Stone Mattress

The final story in the Alphinland trilogy is “Dark Lady.” It introduces readers to aging twins Jorrie and Tin Maeve. Like an old married couple, Jorrie and Tim live together and bicker incessantly, although it is obvious that they love and depend on each other: “Because they’re twins, they can be who they really are with each other, a thing they haven’t managed very well with anyone else” (78).

Jorrie and Tin shared a dark childhood. Their father was killed in war and their mother drank, entertaining a range of men in the home in which she raised her children. Mother Maeve, as the twins called her, died when a bus hit her as she crossed the street coming home from a bar.

Jorrie reads obituaries daily. She calls out the printed euphemisms. “Peacefully, at home, of natural causes,” she reads. “I doubt that very much! I bet it was an overdose” (75). She enjoys going to funerals whether she knew the person before their death or not. One morning, Jorrie reads about the death of an old lover: Gavin Putnam, the poet. Jorrie knew Gavin when they were younger, and she always believed that Gavin’s most celebrated poem, “Dark Lady,” was about her.

Tin accompanies Jorrie to Gavin’s funeral, where they see Gavin’s widow, Reynolds. Of Reynolds, Jorrie says, “She looks about twelve. Gav was such a perv” (105). During the services, Tin and Jorrie look for Constance Starr, Gavin’s former girlfriend who dumped the poet when she found him in bed with Jorrie. They know Constance is the author of Alphinland, a bestselling fantasy series written under the pseudonym C.W. Starr. Although the twins assume she is not going to show up, Constance arrives to pay her respects: “Constance W. Starr is clutching an egg salad sandwich in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She looks beleaguered and wary” (112).

Jorrie and Tin watch as Naveena approaches Constance with an onslaught of questions about Alphinland. Unsure if Constance will recognize her, Jorrie joins the women. At first, Constance addresses Jorrie sternly. Yet when she finds out that Gavin left Jorrie and that Jorrie didn’t steal Gavin away from her, Constance embraces her, both physically and emotionally.