Olive, Again

The Larkin house burns down because two drug addicts broke in and tried to make meth in the kitchen. When this happens, everyone realizes that Louise Larkin had no longer been living in the house—she was in a rest home. Her husband, Roger, who is eighty-three years old, had still been living in the upstairs portion of the house, and had died in the fire. People in Crosby talked about the Larkins and their son who had stabbed a woman twenty-nine times. They wondered where the Larkin’s daughter was. One day, Olive and Jack are driving by the Larkin house and see a car parked—it belongs to the Larkin’s daughter, Suzanne.

Bernie Green, the family’s lawyer, calls Suzanne, who is now a lawyer specializing in child protection. He tells her about the fire and her father’s death, and they meet in his office. Before meeting with Bernie, Suzanne visits her mother. Her mother does not remember Suzanne and says that her daughter is dead. Suzanne wonders if her father was ever proud of her. She and Bernie talk about her brother, Doyle, who is in prison. She remembers visiting her parents two years before; she had discovered that her mother’s mental health had deteriorated, and that her father was physically abusing her. She and her father had moved her mother into the local rest home and her father told her to not come back, but to live her life. She called her father every week after that.

Suzanne tells Bernie that she might be getting a divorce. She had an affair and is going to tell her husband, who she knows will want a divorce. Bernie suggests that she keep the affair a secret from her husband and take responsibility. He suggests that she see a therapist; she tells him that she had the affair with her therapist. Suzanne asks Bernie about the photo on his desk, and he tells her it is of his parents, who died in the Holocaust. Suzanne finds out that she will inherit a large sum of money, the profits from her father’s investments in apartheid South Africa. She says she is going to give away the money. She and Bernie talk about demolishing the house and selling the lot.

Suzanne sits outside the burned-down house and tries to remember something positive. She remembers her father driving her and Doyle to school in Portland, and stopping to buy them Twinkies. Bernie, now alone at home, thinks about Roger’s apartheid investments, and an affair Roger had that he helped hush up. He also remembers a time when Louise called him, saying that Roger was trying to kill her. Bernie had helped Suzanne and Roger bypass the waitlist to get Louise into the rest home, which Suzanne does not know.

Suzanne is at the rest home. Her mother is attached to a stuffed animal that was Suzanne’s. She tells Suzanne that her daughter was a good girl, but her son, Doyle, always wanted his “willie” played with. She becomes furious and tells Suzanne to leave.

Suzanne calls Bernie and asks if her father had ever had an affair. Bernie won’t tell her, and says that she is not like her father because of her own affair. She tells him what her mother said about Doyle, and wonders if she abused him. She vows to visit Doyle in prison more often. She tells Bernie that her father was abusing her mother, and then asks about his life. He tells her he was born in Hungary and sent with an uncle to America. His parents were to come later, but they never did.

Suzanne asks him to tell her about his faith. She says she used to feel that there was something larger, but hasn’t for a few years. He tells her she will again. He tells her to hang up and cry, and then get something to eat. Suzanne sits in her car and thinks about their conversation. Bernie sits in his office and thinks the same; he knows that he will keep their conversation a secret.

Cindy Coombs runs into Olive Kitteridge while grocery shopping. Olive notices that she is distressed, helps her finish her shopping, and walks her to her car. When Cindy gets home, her husband, Tom, asks if she wants to watch television, but she goes upstairs. She thinks about when they built the house, twenty years earlier, and how enormous it had seemed to her. She remembers that she wanted to paint it robin’s egg blue but her sons and Tom said no. Before she got sick with cancer, Cindy worked at the library, and is still a voracious reader. When she was younger, she had thought about becoming a poet.

The next day, Olive visits Cindy. Cindy tells Olive that she has a fifty percent chance of survival after her last treatment. She confesses that she is angry, and Olive says of course she is. She says that Tom, who is acting like she will get better, makes her lonely. Olive admits that she treated Henry badly, and it bothers her now. Cindy tells her about how she cried last Christmas, and scared her sons and husband; they walked away until she stopped crying. She hates that they will always think of that on Christmas. They talk about being afraid to die; Olive makes the point that everyone is dying. Olive’s bluntness helps Cindy. After Olive’s visit, Cindy remembers her mother dying, and hates what her illness is doing to her children.

Cindy’s sister Anita calls her. While they are talking, Olive comes to visit again. Cindy asks if Olive got married. She says yes, for nearly two years now. She talks about marriage when you are older, how you mostly know how to keep your mouth shut. Cindy mentions how sad it makes her to think of Tom alone, but also to think of him with someone else. Olive talks about how wonderful it was to be able to talk with Jack about their spouses. Olive says that Christopher does not like Jack, and admits that she was not a good mother.

A week after Cindy’s last treatment, Olive visits again. Cindy tells her that she has a scan in three months, and has to wait to find out her prognosis. Olive tells her she and Jack had a fight that started about their friends and ended about his daughter. Cindy tells her that her hair should start growing back soon. Olive asks about her sisters—one lives in Florida, and another died young from a drug overdose. Anita, Cindy’s sister-in-law, is the only person that visits consistently besides Olive. Olive suggests that Cindy’s husband is upset about her illness and can’t concentrate. Cindy suddenly realizes what Tom has been going through. Olive looks out the window and comments on the beauty of the February light, which Cindy also loves.