You wait
Other People“You wait” is a recurring expression whose meaning shifts with its speaker and setting. Prince first writes it on the back of an old photograph, where it leaves Mary Lamb / Amy Hide saddened and uncertain; Baby later uses it to frame marriage and returning memory as things that arrive in their own time; Prince’s final use restores the phrase’s unresolved edge. Its repetition links the recovery of the past to an ending still held in suspense.
The Inscription
While looking for something to read in the sitting-room, Mary Lamb / Amy Hide pulls a copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy from the bookcase. An old photograph slips from its pages. It shows seven men on a raised platform: five formally dressed men avert their faces, while a hooded figure stands beside the man who looks towards the camera. Mary Lamb / Amy Hide looks into the pictured man’s eyes, then notices two words on the back: “You wait.” Prince wrote them there.
The note does not explain what is to be awaited. Its placement gives the phrase a grave association, but Mary Lamb / Amy Hide cannot say why it makes her sad. The moment remains unresolved when the doorbell rings. She opens the door without hesitating, and Baby is there; the two women embrace. Thus the phrase first appears at a threshold between an obscure trace of the past and a reunion whose significance is becoming clear.
Baby’s Reframing
After their reunion, Baby speaks of marriage as inevitable, the next thing after leaving home, and ends her reflection with “You wait.” The expression now carries a more everyday assurance: what comes next cannot be forced, but it will arrive. When Mary Lamb / Amy Hide asks about Baby’s daughter, Baby says the child is called Mary, not Amy, though she would use Amy for a future daughter. The exchange grounds the phrase in the sisters’ changed lives as well as their shared history.
Before leaving, Baby repeats “You wait” and says that everything will come back to Mary Lamb / Amy Hide in time. The phrase’s emphasis has shifted from Prince’s enigmatic inscription to the possibility of memory’s return. Baby departs in her car, and Mary Lamb / Amy Hide watches it disappear into the evening haze. Her recollection is not shown as instantly restored; Baby’s words instead make waiting part of the reunion’s promise.
Prince’s Final Call
Later, after visiting the Smythes next door, Mary Lamb / Amy Hide returns to a ringing telephone. Prince is calling. He asks whether the awaited event has happened and whether it was pleasant, then says he has some last things to do, hopes to return that night, and asks her to wait up. He closes with “You wait.”
The repeated expression now carries both intimacy and uncertainty. Prince’s call connects his earlier inscription to the reunion Baby has just described, but it does not settle what he will do or when he will return. Midnight passes. Mary Lamb / Amy Hide is not worried, yet Prince’s reconciled, almost melancholy tone leaves her restless. The phrase therefore closes this sequence not with a completed explanation, but with waiting itself: memory may return, and Prince may come back, while neither outcome is yet confirmed.
