“ The Old Ladies"
Willow & Rose
Gothic Houses
They're names
are Willow and Rose, the Bennington twins! They were reared by their mother, Mary,
who was widowed while the girls were still too young even to go to school. They
have little memory of their father, other than photographs shown over and over
by their mother. And, of course, Mother's incessant stories about him, she
could go on for hours - and often did!
Mother never
realized how clingy and frightened of the world she was after Father's passing.
The girls every step-in life had to be choreographed by Mother, otherwise she
feared she might lose them too. It was stifling, but they eventually understood
the deep loss she felt, and why she held onto them so tightly. Neither sister
ever married - no young man was good enough in Mother's eyes because none
remotely compared to Father.
When Mother
passed, the twins decided to sell the large rambling house they grew up in,
along with most of the land. They used part of the considerable profits to
build mirror image twin houses right next to one another.
They live
separately, but share meals and visit with one another daily. They spend hours
looking at photographs of Mother, Father, and a few of themselves. They remind
each other of all the details in every story Mother ever told. And they are
content, actually more than, to live out their lives just so. 
