Hair Rising, Heir Raising, Erasing
Aunt Josephine Cough
Briefly mentioned, she is the character which presents Angela to Abraham in one of her tea parties, warning him to not fall in love with the Italian shop keeper’s daughter.
Aunt Josephine is the would be keeper of old generations and old fashions yet to still be in fashion herself and for her parties not to be obsolete, she has to invite the new generation which brings life to the old town and the like of Angela. Angela is like a mirror of herself in her younger years, an up and coming socialite to be watched.
We do not know about the good looks Josephine bestowed, yet she is a commending member of the Wilton-Cough family. Although she did not want the union of Abraham and Angela, she will be present at their wedding and making sure it is accepted by others. She is someone who understands the concept of falling in love. She accepts the consequences of it, partly because she was not allowed to do so herself.
She is a Cough through and through, showing the only thing left to her: the family pride. Her unmarried self does not condemned her nephew to wed Angela. She gives the couple a beautiful cuckoo clock from her lonely trips as a wedding present.
That dainty object with its repetitive sounds is disliked with a passion by Abraham who can not stand it, yet for the love of his wife who likes it, he accepts it in their bedroom. The cuckoo clock ticks his unrest as he sleeps. It plays as a fateful object which marks Wilton-Cough’s last minutes. Abraham was the cuckoo in his own nest destroying it at every stroke, hour and minute.
In his last moments, he can not ignore the sound of the cuckoo clock which spells out his time of the day, his time in his life.
Aunt Josephine stands as a strong character who melts with time like everyone else by the never ending, timeless, strike of love.