Excellent Continuing a true story... 10. Zoe's Bonds of Love by LisaMay

This is part 10 of my journal-style stories in which I recount my current life with a young woman, Zoe. She is the daughter of my friend, Lotte, and has come to live with me in my southern New Zealand city. When Zoe came to live at my place in the city, having escaped the confines of small-town life under her mother’s roof, I wasn’t sure how much time she would wish to spend in my company. I’m forty-two years older than Zoe. (Her mother, Lotte, is twelve years younger than I am.)  With her botanical interests, I assumed Zoe’s main enjoyment would lie in the task of reclaiming my overgrown garden. I also assumed she would disappear into her bedroom and be glued to her computer for untold hours of gaming and social media. I was led to believe this is the habit of most young people. I was correct in the first assumption, and incorrect about the second. When the afternoon’s toil in the garden is done, we spend several hours every evening in each other’s company. We are both at our laptop computers – Zoe in an armchair, me sitting at the table – either engaging with the international world through our mutual writing passion, reading our stories to each other, or discussing various topics. Sometimes we shout abuse at the TV when the news is on.  In the three weeks since Zoe arrived, we’ve eased into a companionship of affection and sharing. Our friendship could have a gardening analogy: it is flourishing. *  *  * Here's an update on Piggy, our little hedgehog. Since unintentionally evicting this small creature from the garden patch we are currently working on, we rehoused him elsewhere in a custom-designed home. After eating a large meal of cat food nibbles, he curled up and went to sleep in his leafy ‘nest’.  Zoe has been researching about hedgehogs, discovering they were first introduced here from Britain in 1870, to remind early settlers of ‘home’ and to control garden pests. Like many introduced species, they eventually became pests themselves, and by the 1920s a bounty was put on them. It is reported that based on roadkill figures, hedgehogs were fifty times more numerous here in New Zealand than anywhere else. Their numbers declined after the 1950s, but hedgehogs are still more numerous over large parts of our country than in Britain. Many people view them as despicable creatures who carry diseases. Zoe and I hold no grudge against Piggy’s presence; we wish to facilitate his well-being. He can’t help being born a hedgehog, just as a Dalit caste Indian can’t help being an ‘untouchable’ in that country’s social system. Zoe is tenderly concerned that Piggy is too small to survive winter. We can see his back through the doorway of his new home – he hasn’t moved for a few days. I’m convinced he is hibernating (here in New Zealand they hibernate from June to September). Zoe is fearful that he’s dead, but doesn’t want to disturb him to check.   *  *  * I have been appointed Zoe’s honorary ‘Auntie’. From time to time I’ve wondered about Zoe’s relationship with her mother. Zoe’s disparaging comments, sometimes uttered vehemently, are at odds with my own relationship with Lotte, a good friend whom I perceive to be kind, loyal, and good-natured.  I wonder, too, whether Zoe is keeping in touch with her mother while at my home. I am also wondering about Zoe’s English boyfriend, Adam, left behind when she had to rush back to New Zealand as the Covid crisis kicked in. She had told me they’d started living together very soon after they met. I’m also wondering why Lotte doesn’t seem inclined to talk to me about Zoe. I find this odd (I’m an open book), but perhaps Lotte is observing different boundaries and doesn’t wish to compromise me with the burden of inside information. *  *  *    Curiosity got the better of me a few days ago. “Have you spoken to your Mum recently?” Zoe answered in an offhand manner: “Oh, I call her every night… and Adam, too. Talking to her makes me so cross! I wish you were my mother and not her.” Ouch. I felt inwardly upset for Lotte, but was pleased to hear that Zoe called her every night. “Talking to your boyfriend probably makes you feel better, right?” No answer. I could see Zoe was struggling with something. Then she started talking. And talking some more. She talked so much about her young man I got a very clear picture of him and had to keep biting my tongue. It appeared to me he'd latched onto Zoe, showed her a glimpse of love that had previously eluded her, and was making her feel she was the centre of his world – but at a price. She was now responsible for his happiness. He was relying on her to make his life whole. He wanted to know everything she was doing, to account for every second of her time. He phoned her often. He was smothering her, even at a distance, with his neediness. But he was so generous. He treated her like a princess. He loved her. He made her feel needed. She could help him overcome his social anxiety. He wanted to come to New Zealand as soon as travel was allowed and be with her all the time. She felt uneasy, but didn’t know what to do. Alarm bells were jangling in my head. He had the potential to suck the life out of her. “Zoe, I’m going to say something that will save your life.”  Should I say it? Zoe’s eyes were fixed trustingly on mine. “Please tell him not to come. You are a strong woman. Obviously a desirable one. You need an equal, perhaps someone to challenge you and to stand up to you – not a doormat or a parasite you will eventually resent.”  Zoe blurted: “Oh, thank God! I thought you might think I was awful. He talks on Facebook with Mum about how he wants to come to New Zealand and propose to me. They play on-line Scrabble like they’re best buddies. She doesn’t say a word against him.” I responded evenly: “She probably thinks you’d bite her head off for meddling in your love life. She probably trusts you to make your own decisions. She's probably spending time getting to know Adam for your sake. She probably feels sorry for him that he's so needy. She's probably playing Scrabble with him because she enjoys it. Did YOU play Scrabble with her? How many ‘probablys’ do you need? I can probably come up with some more.” "That's probably enough," Zoe commented, ruefully. *  *  * Yesterday morning Zoe came rushing out of her bedroom looking very upset, clutching her phone. “Mum’s had an accident! She fell over on an icy path. She needs me! I have to go home!” She threw all her clothes in her suitcase, yelled “goodbye” as she headed out the door, and was gone. Home to be with her mum.   Author Notes Author's Note: Reviewers have requested garden photos of our work-in-progress. Here is Zoe contemplating which weed to pull out next. There are quite a few to choose from.

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