A Saturday Afternoon with Emily

At the risk of embarrassing my almost-14 year old granddaughter, Emily, I would like to recount some anecdotes from our get together on Saturday. There had been an attempt at a meeting the previous weekend but Emily had seriously overslept and, as we say, “tempus fugit”: the best before time had elapsed. And so a second plan: for the next Saturday’s meeting Emily would set an alarm on her cell phone to ensure availability. It worked; she arose at 9, but alas, having stayed up until 3 watching TV with her brother, was too tired to attempt anything more taxing than a mope around the house. OK. I understood, having indulged myself in a similar fashion when younger, and, certainly knowing the feeling of just being too pooped to participate. But maybe later? I called her about 3:30: wha’s happenin’? She’s feeling alive and ready to roll. “Do you have 75 cents for a bus ticket to get over here?” I query. “I can get it somewhere,” she responds. This is a yes. Alright! We will meet at the Christie subway station, visit the Vietnamese fruit market for produce, and walk back here. She has to wait until she receives a text from her dad but that ought to come soon and she will let me know when she is leaving. I get the text soon after: I am leaving now.

Then I have a flash: we could still make it in time for the late afternoon showing of the film we had intended to see earlier. But – time is of the essence.  I text her: meet me instead at the St George subway stop. I walk over there and wait for about ten minutes, then realize that in the meantime she has texted me that she has decided to dry her hair a bit more before leaving. NO, I texted immediately, leave now and meet me at the Bay St subway station. I hot-foot it over to Bay and Charles to order hamburgers at an incomparable joint called SlabBurger (go figure!). I do so and tell the lad that I’ll be back in a few minutes. Passing the Manulife building around the corner, I nip in and purchase our tickets to the movie on a machine on the ground floor. I hasten outside and up the block to find Emily waiting outside the subway station. Hooray! All of the texting worked. Modern communication: it made me feel that I was getting hip to the ways of the young.

We picked up our hamburgers and a drink for E and headed into the movie, arriving in time to see a few trailers for up-coming shows but mercifully missing the pre-show advertising for cars and bank accounts. (When theatres began placing ads before films, my friend Martha and I would loudly boo and hiss at this intrusion, unfortunately to no avail.) The theatre was fairly crowded as it was the second day for a much advertised feature called in Canada “The F Word,” F being understood to stand for friendship. For release in the USA the producers were obliged to change the title to something less inclined to provoke commentary. In Canada we seem to be less touchy about such things. (?) I picked this film because it starred Daniel Radcliffe, the lad who grew up playing the role of Harry Potter. I figured that Emily would find it interesting to see him in a more grown-up movie even as she herself is showing all of the physical and mental signs of leaving childhood. It was light, funny and delightful in parts, silly in parts, overall not at all bad. “Cool,” was Em’s sole comment.

She herself was looking cool, beautiful, in fact, in her band-merchandise T-shirt, cut down at home to feature her lovely arms and shoulders, and her hair swept over her forehead with a hint of purple streaking, held in place by her ubiquitous winter hat, a clear fashion statement all her own. We walked around Chapters/Indigo looking for a book called The One, actually the third book of a trilogy by a lady named Cass. We located it in the Teens section and purchased it as an advance birthday gift – her birthday is about three weeks away. “Cool,” was once again her comment. This and her grin showed that she was happy. Emma (there are various versions of Emily’s name) told me that her current main interests are books and band merchandise, and, as both are costly, she wants in a year or so to land a part-time job. Very sensible.  She chatted a bit about starting school on Tuesday; their board begins a week early and gives everyone a week off in November to break up the semester; school grades have gone up since they inaugurated this stress-reducing measure. Recently Emily made two friends by spontaneously commenting on her liking of the band shirt one was wearing. They all acknowledged loving one another’s hair and clothes and generally were pleased with one another. She sees this as a good way to meet people and make friends when she begins at her new school. I couldn’t agree more.

One other school-related comment: “If I get good grades this year my mom said that I could get a face piercing; probably it will be the standard side of the nose ring, not one under the nose for sure.” How the times do constantly change. My kids simply went out and did face piercing once they reached an age to afford it. I didn’t like it but had no actual control over it, something my own mother was hard pressed to understand: “You are their mother! Tell them to get rid of those horrible things!” I could tell them that if I wished but it would have no effect whatsoever. I had no control over their bodies and we all knew it.  When I was a teen, the prevailing societal wisdom held that only cheap girls had pierced ears! (What would mothers of that era made of the piercings and tattoos of today’s youth? Disbelieve I imagine.)

But, back to Emily: when after desert I was driving her back to her dad’s place, I mentioned a memory that had come to me the day before as I walked by the former location of the day care that her bro, Theo had attended 15 years ago. I went in to pick him up. Not able to walk yet he was sitting at a small table in a tiny chair having a snack. When I entered the room he turned his head and smiled upon me in the sweetest way imaginable. Emma was quiet for a few moments and then said, “Yes, I can see that sweet smile of his right now.” They are teens and they squabble but deep down their love for each other is unshakable. And that’s how I feel about them.