my mother hates natural lighting
she tells me today that she wants me to hang up the new shades that arrived
backstory: our shades don’t work, they stay down permanently
I say excitedly, “ooh, are we going to get some natural lighting in the house?”
“no,” she says, “they’re shades”
I am briefly stunned, but I rally. “yes, and these ones will work, so we can put them up and get some light in the house”
all I get in return is a blank stare
as I set about the task of seeing to the shades, I say hopefully, “it would be really nice to have the shades up sometimes”
no response
when I think about the dimness in our house, I can only picture my mother saying, “well, I don’t like houses with too much light” à la Janet from Rocky Horror Picture Show
anyway the new shades don’t fit, but I took down one of the old shades and put it somewhere it won’t be easy to find but where I can plausibly say I was just putting it aside
give her a little taste of what it’s like to be able to see in your own house
