4000 miles post

I can see a reoccurring motif of Vera always forgetting things and words.  Although the scene direction does not say if she has a disease which could affect her memory, she does show signs of a constant memory loss.  It could be just her old age.  She uses the term “whadayacallit” as many as 12times in the script. “Whadayacallit” is a term that many older people used in the 1940’s and 1950’s. She seems to use it most in the beginning and not as much as the end of the script. Most of the time she uses that term is when she can’t remember which word she wants to say and seems to be frustrated by it.  Even Leo uses “whadayacallit” once when teasing Vera. There seems to be other times when Vera is speaking and doesn’t use that word, such as when she is talking about her husband and his lovers when she is talking to Bec. That speech seems to be almost rehearsed as though she had told that story many other times therefore not needing the word “whadayacallit” to fill in for words that she couldn’t remember.

There are many other times when she is confused as to what happened, such as when the top lock of the door was locked, when she couldn’t find her checkbook and when the sink was broken. You can tell Leo is concerned when he tells Lilly that she should come out to visit and stay with Vera. This could be a reason why Leo decided to stay as long as he did.