Making Tea

by Craig Cotter

Making Tea
for Great–Aunt Jane R. Mahoney, 5/7/03 – 5/26/95

The last time I saw Aunt Jane
in Little Falls

she was 91 and moving slowly,
oxygen tank in tow.

She invited me to the kitchen for tea.

Gave us each porcelain cups
and poured in hot water.

She held a Lipton tea bag by the paper square,
dunked it into the hot water

not waiting a second
before pulling it out —

the weakest cup of tea I’ve ever seen made.

She added cream
and asked about my life

which at that stage
and on-going

wasn’t going that well.

*
Aunt Jane collected bells
displayed on mahogany three-tiered stands

in her livingroom.
When we visited

as children
we sat in dress clothes
and had to be careful not to bump into the bells,
many of which were glass.

This last trip
in my early 30s

she remembered I’d liked the Liberty Bell,
and asked me to take it and any others I wanted.

I told her I didn’t want to disrupt her collection.
She insisted I take some bells as tears rolled down her face —

not a sob (Aunt Jane was very formal).

*
I took 3 bells which I’ve lost.

It was only driving down West Monroe Street
to my grandfather’s house on Moreland Street

that I realized she knew she was dying.

*
Aunt Jane never went to funerals, including to her husband Leo’s. The neighbors said she wouldn’t go to her own funeral.