late night chats with Mother Knoppen

late night chats with Mother Knoppen

fiction
edward w pritchard

You had to be very quiet when you stopped by to chat with Mother Knoppen. The children were light sleepers and it took Mrs. Knoppen a long time to get them all in bed for the night. We would sit at her kitchen table to whisper late, after ten PM, and Angela Knoppen, Angie, would tell me about what she wanted to do someday. Study about space travel or join the garden club. Usually one of the seven children would have a cough or a nightmare and we would put the coffee cups in the sink, put away the Ritz crackers, and have to continue our talks in a couple of weeks.

Twenty years later I sometimes ran into Angie Knoppen over at McDonald's with one or two of her grandchildren. She would tell me about the newest theory in string theory and multiple universes. Usually as she talked she would forget about being a Grandmother for a minute when she was excited about Science or something and forget herself and brush back her hair with the back of her hand and maybe draw a diagram on the napkin there at McDonald's explaining how there might be eleven multiple universes. Before long one of her Daughter's would come in to tell her she was getting back with her husband or Mike, her boyfriend was on strike and we would have to discontinue our chat.

After I exited the McDonald's I would always stand in the glass entry way with the employee washing the double doors and watch Angie holding a baby and listening intently to the details of Mike's temporary job.