Heavyweight - #25 Becky and Jo

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

Becky and Jo were raised by a procession of eccentric babysitters, 16 in total. But their favorite was Leticia. The girls adored her… right up until the day she mysteriously vanished. Twenty years l...ater, Becky and Jo want to know what happened. Credits Heavyweight is hosted and produced by Jonathan Goldstein. This episode was produced by Kalila Holt, along with Stevie Lane and BA Parker. Editing by Jorge Just. Special thanks to Emily Condon, Lulu Miller, Anna Sullivan, Kate Parkinson-Morgan, Mathilde Urfalino, and Jackie Cohen. The show was mixed by Bobby Lord.  Music by Christine Fellows, John K Samson, Blue Dot Sessions, and Bobby Lord. Our theme song is by The Weakerthans courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music is by Haley Shaw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:23 Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Hello? Do you remember when you... Do you remember? Do you remember when you once told me that you're... We were talking about the blues, because you were saying how you love the blues. You know what? You're just making shit up. No, I'm not the blues. You know what? You're just making shit up. No, I'm not. You said that you really—
Starting point is 00:00:47 You're just making shit up. No, you said you love the blues, and then you told me that— I was thinking about the blues. I said, oh, who's your favorite blues musician? And you said, Jim Belushi. I said, really? There's so many great, like, blues. You're such an idiot.
Starting point is 00:01:07 Oh, my God. From Gimlet Media, I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and this is Heavyweight. Today's episode, Becky and Joe. L.A. All around me, cinematic landmarks. The Chinese Theater, Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Sunsets, The Pacific Ocean, Tony Shalhoub,
Starting point is 00:01:53 The Observatory from Rebel Without a Cause, and the Hollywood sign from the Entourage movie. Fun fact, L.A. is what industry insiders call Los Angeles. Hey, Becky. I'm in Los Angeles to see Becky. She grew up here. Her parents work in the film biz. They're producers of movies that, if I named, you'd say,
Starting point is 00:02:20 I know that movie. What a nice place. Becky gives me a tour of the nice place, which happens to be her mom's place, because it is a quiet place, a good place to talk. It's so great the way that all the rooms just connect one to the other. Yeah. One to the other. I'm in Hollyweird, all right.
Starting point is 00:02:40 There are windows, too, overlooking a yard. Oh, my God. Are those oranges? Yes. The California dream. You just, like, open up the window in the kitchen. On the wall hangs a painting of a boat. On the coffee table sits a pipe.
Starting point is 00:02:57 Does your mom smoke a pipe? No. Just a conversation piece, but worth every penny. Because as the tour draws to an end, the conversation begins. The story all started, Becky says, a few months ago, while dining at an Italian restaurant with her parents and older sister Jo. We were at my birthday dinner. My whole family was there, mom, dad. Becky's mom
Starting point is 00:03:26 and dad are divorced, so the whole family rarely gets together. Like, my parents, they're cordial, but like, it's really birthdays. Their chit-chat proceeded along in that way family restaurant discussions often do. A lot of remember that person, remember this thing, remember that thing this person was supposed to return but never did, and now we don't have that thing or know that person? It was in this way that Becky came to mention someone the family hadn't talked about in years. Letitia.
Starting point is 00:04:02 As soon as the name was uttered, Becky could see the power it still had over her older sister Jo, even after so many years. Becky brought up Letitia. This is Becky's sister Jo. For her, the very word was like a gut punch. But as she looked around the table, Jo saw their parents were struggling to even place the name.
Starting point is 00:04:23 It felt like people were trying to remember Letitia, like it was this hazy thing. Everyone held little snippets. Letitia drove a red car. Letitia had small hands. Letitia was very beautiful. As the family batted around half-memories, Jo remained quiet. Becky watched the emotions sweep over her sister's face. Across the table in this very loud restaurant,
Starting point is 00:04:50 I just got this wave of sadness about Letitia. Letitia was Becky and Joe's babysitter. Until one day, 20 years ago, when she suddenly vanished from their lives. As movie producers, Becky and Joe's parents worked long hours and were rarely home. So from the time
Starting point is 00:05:20 they were toddlers until they were young teens, the girls were looked after by a parade of babysitters, one after the other. We had a babysitter named Melissa. We had a babysitter named Robin. There was a babysitter named Maeve. We had a babysitter named Candace. I don't remember too much about Adriana.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Sixteen babysitters in total. Sixteen young women lurking in the background of family photographs, dimly remembered, each odd in their own way. Helena, she was kind of an asshole. She ended up falling in love with this exterminator that came to our apartment when we had fleas. There was the babysitter who joined a cult. She just said, now my name is Malie. The babysitter who performed Reiki treatment on Becky. The babysitter who lied about a death in the family to scam travel money. Aislinn. Aislinn. Aislinn brought Becky and Joe onto the front lawn one day
Starting point is 00:06:15 and taught them, a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old, how to put a condom on a banana. And let us, like, pick a flavor of condom. I just remember looking over across the lawn and seeing my sister, who looked so small to me, tasting a, like, grape-flavored condom. Also just the going out on the lawn part. Like, I don't...
Starting point is 00:06:37 Oh, well, did you have a banana tree outside? Nope. Huh. Becky and Joe's parents were always absent so all the caretaking fell to the babysitters they fed the girls when they were hungry comforted them when they were upset became integral to their lives. And then, after a couple of months, they usually left.
Starting point is 00:07:10 It walloped Joe each time. To have all these women come and go, and choose to go, it kind of felt as though, you know, they were hired to be our friend. as though, you know, they were hired to be our friend, and then we were just too much, or there was something that was too much to even make money worth being our friend. I just really felt like I had no one. But then came someone. Neither Becky nor Joe can recall where Letitia came from.
Starting point is 00:07:48 She just showed up one day, as glamorous as a movie star. Joe, 10 years old at the time, was dazzled. She was everything that I kind of wished I was in a teenage girl. Her hair was straight and I wanted to straighten my hair and long nails and I bit my nails. She wore spaghetti straps and she was like a grown-up popular girl. And what set her apart was how she made the girls feel like they were friends. She brought them to her home to meet her mom. She took them to the beach and to the mall and taught them how to apply lip gloss. Letitia seemed impossibly cool.
Starting point is 00:08:31 Becky and Joe remember her showing up late one time and explaining that she just crashed into a cop car. The girls were in awe. Even her music was cool. There was one song in particular that she loved to play. That Aaliyah song, Are You That Somebody, with the baby sample in it. You know, that like, dirty south, here we go, you know, that song. Yeah, I don't know it.
Starting point is 00:08:54 I make a mental note to sign up for Spotify to listen to the song. Just as soon as I figure out how to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi. Letitia choreographed this dance for us. Just like this weird thing that we'd like do with our hands. In the car, we were seated. Me and Becky still remember it and we can do it like on cue. Driving in the car, listening to that song and doing that dance, feeling cool and close to both of them.
Starting point is 00:09:24 Kind of felt like I was like riding riding along with two older, cooler girls. Because I always idolized my sister. Yeah. A lot. So she was like your older sister's older sister, kind of. Yeah. Letitia would just lie on Joe's bed with her, like, kind of, like, on her stomach,
Starting point is 00:09:47 like, pillow-talking, sharing secrets or something. I think that Letitia genuinely, like, really loved my sister. Letitia made them feel like she'd be sticking around. But in the end, she only stayed a couple months. And of all the departures of all their babysitters, Letitia's was the most brutally abrupt. The last day Becky and Joe ever saw Letitia, they were all hanging out in the kitchen.
Starting point is 00:10:15 And when thinking about what drove Letitia away, this is the moment Joe always returns to. It was after school, and Letitia was making her a smoothie. I accidentally, I knocked over the smoothie. I was just so excitable around her, I think. And she kind of dropped to her knees, and I tried to help her pick it up. And she seemed pissed, and she was like, it's okay, I got it. For the rest of the day, Letitia seemed distant.
Starting point is 00:10:40 okay, I got it. For the rest of the day, Letitia seemed distant. The next afternoon, as always, Becky and Joe waited for Letitia to pick them up outside their elementary school. We just didn't see her car, and we were waiting. She was sometimes late. You're like, oh, it's okay, like five minutes. She's just really late.
Starting point is 00:11:02 Five minutes turned to ten, turned to half an hour. Joe took a seat on the grass, and then so did Becky. Other cars came and went. An hour. An hour and a half. As the school emptied out, it took on a faraway ghostly quality. I remember the light changing. on a faraway ghostly quality.
Starting point is 00:11:24 I remember the light changing, also Becky's face changing and looking more to me. Becky's face to me was a huge emotional compass because she was so much younger than me. Joe's first impulse in scary, uncharted
Starting point is 00:11:41 situations was to reassure herself by reassuring her sister. She'd explain to Becky what was going on or tell her things would be okay. But sitting on the front lawn of their empty school as night approached, Joe wasn't sure things would be okay. I imagine there was nothing more to do
Starting point is 00:11:58 than hold her little sister's hand. Two or three hours went by and we were, like, sitting on the on the grass like both of us just crying and like it really setting in that like she's not coming I remember thinking too like maybe she died I think I knew by her not coming to pick us up that, like, she was gone. Like, she was not going to be in our life anymore. And she wasn't. After waiting several hours, the girls phoned their mom, who instructed them to walk to a nearby friend's house.
Starting point is 00:12:39 Maybe in the end, Letitia hadn't loved them. Maybe it was just a job. Letitia was gone without explanation. But Joe knew it had to be because of that smoothie. Whatever the case, by the very next day, Letitia had been replaced. Becky and Joe's mom had work to get back to. The problem was solved the way our parents looked at it, which was, you know, they're okay, they have supervision, but I was just so heartbroken. Even all these years later, when Joe talks about it, it's in the language of a first breakup.
Starting point is 00:13:25 Letitia's disappearance even comes up in therapy. With each new relationship, Joe's biggest fear is that the person she's with might suddenly disappear. Just like Letitia did. Since that family dinner, Becky hasn't been able to forget the sadness on her sister's face.
Starting point is 00:13:42 But whenever Becky prods her about it, Joe brushes it off, or changes's face. But whenever Becky prods her about it, Joe brushes it off or changes the subject. But Becky knows her sister, and she can tell she's hurting. And she wants to help. As the older sister, Joe took care of Becky. Becky's now 27, and Joe is 30. She's still the older sister, but Becky feels the time has come for her to take care of Joe. If Letitia's out there, Becky wants to find her and ask, what happened that day?
Starting point is 00:14:13 I want to talk to her. Fanduel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning. Which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling winning in an exciting live dealer studio exclusively on FanDuel Casino where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario.
Starting point is 00:14:58 Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Becky doesn't know where Letitia came from or where she might have gone. She's not even sure of Letitia's last name. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:21 Which is why Becky has chosen to wade into that swamp of collective memory known as the family storage unit. I feel like there's only so much time I can spend in here, just because I know how many rats are in here. The storage unit isn't lit, and Becky forgot her flashlight at home. So she uses the light on her phone to scope out the room. So she uses the light on her phone to scope out the room. Inside, her box is piled atop each other, containing years and years' worth of old school assignments,
Starting point is 00:15:54 VHS tapes, and birthday cards from barely-remembered family friends. There's makeup in here that's like 20 years old. She's here to find Joe's childhood address book. When Joe was a kid, the way that some people might collect autographs, she collected addresses. So every time she met someone new, Jo would scrawl their address into a little book with a hologram dog on the cover. Becky is hoping the book contains Letitia's full name and an address.
Starting point is 00:16:19 Any clues to help begin the search? While digging around in the dim light, Becky finds one of Joe's old journals with entries dated from around the time of Letitia. She sits down in the child-sized chair she used to use in her family's old living room and realizes a dream long held by little sisters everywhere. With Joe's permission, she opens her older sister's diary and explores the once carefully guarded pages.
Starting point is 00:16:46 December 21st, 2000. Dear Weebo. Joe named her diary Weebo after the robot in Flubber. Bush is our new president. They told us about a week ago. Anyways, I have a totally new crush. It's Justin Timberlake. He is so hot. I love him. He is so hot. I love him. She declares on December 23, 1999,
Starting point is 00:17:14 that her relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio is over. She says, P.S. Leo is over too. He is a pardon my French gay lord. It is the new JoJo and I'm single! With Leo and Justin, Jo created a fantasy of the perfect boyfriend. And as Becky reads further, she wonders if, with Letitia,
Starting point is 00:17:34 Jo had created a fantasy of the perfect mom, a mother who would always be around for her. Dear Weebo, Mom is going away tomorrow. I can't believe it. Again, for four days, which is usually extended to six days. She never thinks about time with her family.
Starting point is 00:17:50 I love her so much, and she's mostly away from me. Work, work, work. And every Saturday night, she goes out with my dad. I just spend the scraps of time with her that I have. Fuck. So sad. So sad. Fuck. So sad. Alone in the dim light of the storage unit, Becky puts the journal down and continues her search. But after digging around for a couple hours, she gives up.
Starting point is 00:18:29 She can't find the address book. It seemed like the storage unit had been a dead end. But a few days later, Becky phones with some good news. She'd taken Joe's journal home to keep searching for clues, and she found some. There are a couple entries that mention Letitia. The first mention of Letitia is from the day she showed up, which was also the day the previous babysitter left.
Starting point is 00:18:59 It says, Dear Weebo, today I found out some bad news. Sylvia is leaving. I'm trying not to make a big deal about it because I don't want to make Sylvia feel guilty. The new babysitter is Letitia. She's really nice and she's 19 years old. August 3rd, 1998, Letitia and I have found one thing in common. We're planning a Leo night. We both love Leonardo DiCaprio.
Starting point is 00:19:31 Love, Joe. And what else do you have there? There's September 6th, 1998. Dear Weebo, today Letitia's coming to babysit. I love Letitia. She's the best. She's one of those babysitters that actually does stuff with you. Like, for one, she will take you to the pier. Two, she goes on the rides.
Starting point is 00:20:01 A lot of my old babysitters weasel themselves off the rides, but not Letitia. She rocks. She's coming at one. But only a few weeks later, Letitia was gone. And for Joe, her disappearance was so painful that it bled into the departures of the babysitters that followed. Dear Weebo, Aislinn and Hillary are leaving. I don't want them to go. Well, at least they told us. Unlike Letitia.
Starting point is 00:20:32 We need to find a babysitter that will actually stay. I gotta go to school. I love you, Joey. And then, in a diary entry written months after Letitia's disappearance, Becky discovers proof that her sister's heartbreak went beyond merely writing about Letitia. She was also writing to Letitia. The substance of Joe's letters was always the same. I miss you, and I'm sorry. to Letitia. It says, I still love you. And today I got a letter in the mail, but it turned out to be an advertisement. I really want to track her down. All told, Joe wrote Letitia about a half a
Starting point is 00:21:14 dozen letters. Letitia never responded. And now, 20 years later, it's Becky who wants to track her down. It's Becky who wants to track her down. According to Joe's diary, Letitia was 19 and attending a nearby college when she became their babysitter. So present-day Letitia would now be 40 years old and possibly an alumna of the local college. Armed with this, I start dialing Letitia's by the dozens. An excellent dialer, I dial with confidence, leaving dozens of messages, but receiving no responses. Until.
Starting point is 00:21:55 Yeah, I just received a call from this number. Oh, hi. Yeah, I was looking for Letitia. What is this call pertaining to? Well, I... While strong at the dialing part, my weakness has always been the part that comes immediately after. There's a couple of people who wanted to reconnect. She was a part of their past. Is this the right phone number? Sorry?
Starting point is 00:22:21 Who would that be? Who would that be? She was their babysitter in the late 90s. Oh, okay. That's interesting. Okay. I will pass the message along. That's great.
Starting point is 00:22:49 So this is Letitia's number. No, it's not her number. It's my number. At any rate, if you're in touch with her or what have you, she could give me a call. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye.
Starting point is 00:23:12 Bye-bye. Was the hedgy owl man going to deliver my message to Letitia, or was he merely some basement apartment bachelor taking a break from opening cans of chili to have a little fun at my expense? Because I have no other leads, I wait. And then, one afternoon, a week later, I get a call back. So once again, I unholster my trusty dialing finger and get ready to deliver some news. Hello?
Starting point is 00:23:44 Hey, Joe. Hey. Uh, Becky. Hi. So, uh, I have some news to share. Oh. I, uh, found Letitia. Holy fuck!
Starting point is 00:23:57 What the fuck? Holy shitballs. After the break, the holiest shitball of all, Letitia. Hi. Hey. Nice to see you all. We've arranged to meet at a place near Letitia's house to talk about what happened that day long ago.
Starting point is 00:24:29 It turns out that Letitia still lives in the same neighborhood where she used to babysit Becky and Joe. The sisters are the first to arrive. So Letitia's supposed to be coming soon. Okay. Do you want to sit there? Sure. Because I thought I would sit here.
Starting point is 00:24:45 After detailing my elaborate seating chart, I offer refreshments. I have some water and glasses for the water. We fall into a nervous quiet. Joe, swimming in decades-old emotions, seems especially unsettled. When you said you found her, I was like, wait, I don't know this person at all. It's so, like, the last time I saw her was the last time I saw her. Like, it's so weird, like...
Starting point is 00:25:21 And then we wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Becky and Joe sit on the couch side by side, listening to the cars pass by. Five minutes turns to ten minutes, ten to fifteen. Until finally, a knock at the door. Hello. Hi. Letitia has a warm smile and blonde highlights in her hair.
Starting point is 00:25:56 Letitia. Oh, it's nice to meet you. Come on in. Becky and Joe are here. Oh, great. Hi. Hi. That's the last time I saw you. You were just kids. As per my seating arrangement, Becky and Joe are here. Oh, great. Hi. Oh, my God. That's the last time I saw you. You were just kids. As per my seating arrangement,
Starting point is 00:26:08 Becky and Joe are on the couch. Letitia sits down on the chair opposite them. So maybe we can, I don't know how to start exactly, but maybe, maybe... What with all my planning out the seating arrangement,
Starting point is 00:26:22 which so far seems to be working like a charm, I hadn't come up with a plan for how to actually begin a babysitter-babysatted reunion. So, I figure we should begin at the beginning, with how Letitia came to be hired in the first place. Do you remember there being an interview? Do you remember initial impressions? So, I think I found a posting maybe on Craigslist, I want to say. I did, I interviewed with your mom. What didn't come up in the interview, Letitia says,
Starting point is 00:26:54 is how big the job would be. It wasn't just looking after Becky and Joe. She also had to do the cooking, laundry, and house cleaning. Letitia was barely out of high school and clearly in over her head. It was the beginning of a tumultuous period in her life. When I started to work with you girls, it was like I was going through, like, a breakup, and, like, just my whole world kind of felt like
Starting point is 00:27:20 it was just, you know, unraveling. You know, it was just, you know, unraveling. You know, it was just like, it was overwhelming. I remember it being so difficult for me to get out of my car and like walk across the street because I felt so uncomfortable under the glare of like the people just looking at me crossing the street. I don't know, I felt very, like, vulnerable in the world.
Starting point is 00:27:53 Letitia began to overeat compulsively, and when she gained weight, it filled her with self-hatred. To Becky and Joe, Letitia was the definition of cool, but in reality, she was barely keeping it together. Even the awe-inspiring story about crashing into a cop car was less a middle finger to the man and more a symptom of being trapped in her own head. I remember, like, breaking down in tears
Starting point is 00:28:16 because for some reason I thought I was going to, like, go to jail or something because I had a police officer. When Letitia stopped getting her period, she knew something had to be really wrong. So finally, she went to the doctor. And it was the doctor who told me, you know, I think you're depressed.
Starting point is 00:28:34 And suddenly, when he said that, it was like, oh my god, yes, of course, like, that's what's happening. Eventually, Letitia would crawl out of that depression, but it would take her a decade to do it. I mean, I wish I would crawl out of that depression, but it would take her a decade to do it. I mean, I wish I would have had the courage to come back and speak to you both in person. So I was really excited and happy to hear that, you know,
Starting point is 00:28:56 you guys had reached out. For Letitia, the day she didn't pick up the girls from school was just one more bad day and a long blur of bad days. But for Becky and Joe, it's the day they keep coming back to, one of the worst of their childhood. Even if Letitia was depressed, why did she have to abandon them
Starting point is 00:29:16 without a word of warning? Didn't she care that they'd be left waiting all alone? Joe can't bring herself to raise the question, so Becky steps up and tries to explain the day for both of them. We sat together on the grass, and I just remember, like, the last car, like, and then sort of this panic setting in of, like, we're alone, and, like, yeah, we waited a really long time. And I remember being worried that like, you were okay. Becky looks over at Joe. Just like when they were kids, they study each other's faces, looking for direction, trying to figure out their next move. Tentatively, Joe weighs in.
Starting point is 00:30:01 Yeah, I mean, that is what happened. But Letitia looks confused. She offers her version of the day. She'd been unable to get out of bed for most of the morning, telling herself that she had to go to work, and yet, she couldn't possibly go to work. This was when she picked up the phone and dialed Becky and Joe's parents. I called them and told them that I was going to be in. This was before your school ended, that I was sick. But I did call, of course, I called and told them, and this was before your school was out, that I'm sick and I'm, you know, I wasn't going to come in that day.
Starting point is 00:30:40 And that was the day. That was that day. No one ever told us that at all. We really didn't know. We really, and it's been, I'm 30 years old. I mean, like, I've gone my whole life thinking that that was not a part of it. The fact that you called, that she knew that you weren't coming, is so absolutely bonkers to me.
Starting point is 00:31:17 I think I felt at the time like it was me and Becky. Like we were just too much. Becky and Joe reach out for each other's hands as Joe continues. According to, I mean, my mom was like, I don't know what happened. Like truly, that's what we thought happened. We thought that you just disappeared.
Starting point is 00:31:40 Letitia tells them that she'd only meant to call in sick for one day, but that their mom had grown so upset that Letitia, in her fragile state, felt like she couldn't ever return. And so began Joe's letter-writing campaign. I, after you left, wrote, like, countless letters to you. And I remember my mom had all the stamps, and I remember my mom had all the stamps and she would mail my letters.
Starting point is 00:32:11 Joe looks at Letitia. Again, she struggles to ask the thing she really wants to know. Why didn't you ever respond to me? But before she has to come out and say it, Letitia jumps in. I didn't get any letters. I never received any letters. Joe takes in Letitia's words and speaks in a whisper. That makes me so mad.
Starting point is 00:32:42 Like, it's just genuinely confusing. I mean, anger, but, like, I'm just like, why? Why hadn't Becky and Joe's mom mailed the letters? And why hadn't she told the girls that Letitia had actually phoned that day? That, that is not my memory of what happened. I reach out to Becky and Joe's mom, Julia, to ask. Her memory of the day is foggy, but she does not remember getting a call from Letitia.
Starting point is 00:33:16 As I remember it, I just got a call from someone at school saying, nobody came to pick up your kids. And that felt like the worst thing I had ever done in letting my kids down. Julia also doesn't remember being given any letters to mail. Regardless, she wouldn't have been mailing them in the first place, she says. Joe knew where the stamp drawer was. Julia remembers the time of Letitia's employment as one of worry and stress. She was producing about a half a dozen film projects at the time of Letitia's employment as one of worry and stress. She was producing about a half a dozen film projects at the time and was always exhausted. She kept long hours during the week, and on weekends, she read the scripts that arrived at her doorstep in a huge pile.
Starting point is 00:33:58 I didn't feel like I had to apologize to my girls for having a career. But I did see that they kind of resented it. And I could understand why, because it did take me away from them. Julia herself understands what it means to grow up with an absent mom. Her own mother was a New York talent agent who was always distracted with work and handed her off to a series of housekeepers. And I had my own memories of what I resented. Like my mother did not get up in the morning. She liked to sleep late. And so she didn't get up in the morning when my brother and I went to school.
Starting point is 00:34:44 So our lunches were always made by the housekeeper. I just remember wishing that my mother had made my lunch herself. You know, when I became a mom, I think I hoped I would do better. But when I got there myself, I saw how hard it was. But she was always sure to make the girls' lunches herself, taking care to drop a note in saying she was thinking of them, that she loved them. As for the other household chores, it seems like a lot of that fell to the young women she hired.
Starting point is 00:35:23 For Julia, being responsible for the cooking and cleaning while working a more than full-time job was too hard. And it was made even harder by an agreement struck with her husband early on in their marriage. My husband, I mean, it was clear he never wanted kids as much as I did. And I think he loved them once they got here, but it was my deal. got here, but it was my deal. And I was fully 100% responsible for all child care duties and everything. And that was something that was a bit of a problem in my marriage, you know, which ultimately ended in divorce. Julia says that when she envisions Becky and Joe sitting on the school lawn, embracing as the sky turned dark,
Starting point is 00:36:07 she can't help but remember the day she sat her daughters down to tell them that she and their dad were divorcing. Becky was 18 by then, and Joe, 22. Julia remembers them holding on to each other while she broke the news. Well, Julia thought, at least they've got each other. And I felt like they're together. They're going to be okay. I was 10? Yeah, you were 10.
Starting point is 00:36:51 I remember because... After hearing what their mom remembers, Becky and Joe say that there's probably no way to ever know for sure what happened. Back then, Julia was just trying to survive. And so was Letitia. They each remember things differently. In some things, they don't remember at all. I remember making a smoothie with you and spilling the blender, and I thought that that was the reason. When Jo brings up the spilled smoothie,
Starting point is 00:37:18 this painful regret she's carried with her well into adulthood, Letitia tells her that she has no recollection of any smoothies at all. And so Joe pulls out another pivotal memory. I have a question. Do you remember that Aaliyah dance? No. Or doing it? Letitia shakes her head.
Starting point is 00:37:37 She doesn't remember. But the sisters do. It's another moment that they still carry with them that only they share. Like, I remember that... We still know it. Oh my them, that only they share. Like, I remember that... We still know it. Oh my God, that's so adorable, yeah. It was like...
Starting point is 00:37:51 East Coast. The sisters mirror each other's hand movements. They fall into the dance automatically. They're enjoying themselves and each other. And then it just went again. That is so funny. Awesome. In the Aaliyah song, Are You That Somebody,
Starting point is 00:38:12 Aaliyah poses a question. Are you that somebody? Because of a hotel Wi-Fi situation, I've yet to listen to the song, so I don't know whether Aaliyah ever gets her answer. Five, six, seven. We were never really dancers. But watching Becky and Joe, it's clear they've gotten their answer.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Becky and Joe's somebody was neither babysitter nor parent. The one constant the sisters always had was each other. I care a lot about my sister. Yeah. And, I mean, we're closer now than I think ever, and Becky's one of the closest people to me in my life and my hero. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:39:02 Hello, is she okay? Yes. Is she okay? Letitia gets a call from the hedgy man, who, it turns out, is also her husband. Their 19-month-old daughter is having a meltdown, and their 6-year-old daughter needs to be picked up from school, so Letitia has to rush off. They all make plans to get together soon,
Starting point is 00:39:23 but for now, Letitia needs to take care of her daughters. And Becky and Joe, for their part, head out together into a beautiful L.A. afternoon, doing their best to keep taking care of each other. laughter I'm just kidding. Now that the furniture's returning to its goodwill home will home now that the last month's rent is scheming with the damage
Starting point is 00:40:29 deposit take this moment to decide if we meant it if we tried or felt around for far too much from things that accidentally touched This episode of Heavyweight was produced by Kalila Holt and me, Jonathan Goldstein, along with Stevie Lane and B.A. Parker. The show is edited by Jorge Just.
Starting point is 00:41:00 Special thanks to Emily Condon, Lulu Miller, Anna Sullivan, Kate Parkinson-Morgan, Matilde Urfelino, and Jackie Cohen. Bobby Lord mixed the episode with original music by Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson, and Bobby Lord. Additional music credits can be found on our website, Our theme song is by The Weaker Thans, courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music is by Haley Shaw. Follow us on Twitter at Heavyweight
Starting point is 00:41:26 or email us at heavyweight at gimletmedia.com. You can listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll have a brand new episode next week. you

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