The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

In 2014, Lenni sneaks out of the hospital and tells an elderly patient that she’s afraid of death. He offers her no words of comfort, only silent “disdain and confusion” (231). Lenni prefers his hostility to sympathy and continues to voice her fears until the man irritably tosses his cigarette onto the pavement and goes back inside. Lenni throws the cigarette in the garbage bin. When the bin catches fire, she quickly retreats back inside the hospital.

In Warwickshire in February 1971, 40-year-old Margot accepted Humphrey’s invitation for a night of tapas and stargazing. The astronomer lived in a cluttered old farmhouse, had a homemade observatory in his attic, and kept chickens named after old Hollywood stars. Margot told him that she had a pet chicken in London. Talking about Jeremy made her miss Meena, but she found peace and sanctuary in Humphrey’s presence. With the affable, forgetful man, she felt no pressure “to impress him, to make him laugh” (235).

Back in 2014, Lenni visits Father Arthur in the chapel. He grows somber when the conversation turns to his retirement, which will begin in one week. Lenni’s shocked that the months have passed so quickly.