I did get home a little late after school, after all. That was one of the afternoons Mr. Bryant decided to hold some of us back after math to see if we had any more problems. Nice of him, but I had to explain that my mother told me to be right home after school. He looked at me kind of suspicious. Crap! As if I want to go and see that kid anyway! And then he told me to run along. Run along! Like I’m some little kid or something!
So we walked over to this house, me and Mom. It was only a couple of blocks away from our house. Half the snow is melted, it’s all slushy out and I had to watch where I was going. Like, when I’m with Mom I’m not supposed to walk through big slushy puddles. Even though I'm wearing boots; figure that one out. Mom was kind of mad at me because we were fifteen minutes later than she told the woman we would be, but I told her I was lucky to get away as soon as I did.
Then on the way there, she nagged me for not having combed my hair before we left the house. And as if that wasn’t enough, she said “please be careful of your language there, I wouldn’t care to have you make a poor impression.” Like we were visiting the Queen, or something.
When we got there, Mom rang the doorbell and we stood outside on the porch with everything dripping around us, and just waited and waited and I said, if we’re expected how come we’ve got to wait around like this? And Mom raised her eyebrows at me like she does when she's annoyed, and she really jabbed the doorbell again.
Finally, a lady opened the door and smiled like maple sugar at us and let us in. She introduced us all around like to her, and her little kid, and took our coats. I didn’t feel very comfortable and I could see that Mom wasn’t feeling any better. I don’t exactly know why.
There were two cute little French poodles, one white and the other black and they kept jumping up on us, really excited. I didn’t mind, but they tore Mom’s pantyhose and I kind of think she wasn’t too happy about that.
Anyway, this woman took us into her living room and it was really nice. The living room I mean. Everything looked new and expensive. I sat down on the edge of a sofa next to Mom and the woman said sorry, but her daughter wasn’t home from school yet, and crap! Did I ever feel like raising my eyebrows at Mom. Mom and the lady talked about the area, the houses, stuff like that. She asked did we attend Synagogue, and Mom said no.
She asked Mom what Daddy does for a living, and Mom hates when people ask you that right off, like they’re pinning you down and putting a tag on you. The lady said when they moved, they really wanted to buy a house in a fancier neighbourhood, but they couldn’t afford it at the time, so they decided to move here. That must’ve tickled Mom’s fancy, because she thinks this is a great place to live. I do too, of course.
“We think very highly of this neighbourhood”, Mom said to Mrs. Kraft (that was the lady’s name). “The neighbours are very nice, we love the parks here and the schools appear to be superior. Personally, I’ve been able to get right into feeling a part of things, acting as a volunteer in the local library, the school. If you’d like to get to know the community a little better, perhaps you’d like to come into Barbra’s school as a parent volunteer? They need parents in many capacities and just in the library alone I know they could use more parent volunteers.”
“Not me”, Mrs. Kraft laughed. “I don’t go for that kind of involvement. Anyway, I’m much, much too busy. I’ve got all kinds of things to do.” And she began to tick off on her fingers all the appointments she had to keep and the committees she was busy with. Boy, she sure was busy. Mom never does any of those things. “I’ve got my hairdresser on Monday afternoons, then fitness classes on Tuesdays, Bridge Club on Wednesday, then we bowl on Thursday afternoons, and I’ve got all my friends to see at lunch. Oh, I keep a very busy schedule.” Mrs. Kraft looked very pleased with herself. I kept turning my head from her to Mom, to kind of get a feel of how Mom was taking all of that.
“Oh, I see”, Mom said kind of stiffly, nodding her head with a funny smile plastered on her face. After that she kind of didn’t offer any more suggestions about getting to know your community better, or anything like that.
Mom looked around and said the house was lovely. Mom knows a lot about antiques and art and she said something about some things Mrs. Kraft had. Mrs. Kraft seemed a little snooty and she didn’t seem to know much about her stuff, so Mom let that drop It wasn’t very nice, sitting there, waiting for this kid Barbra to come home, and Mom and Mrs. Kraft didn’t seem to be hitting it off. Mrs. Kraft smiled kind of plastic and talked about clubs she belongs to, trips she goes on, hairdressers and stuff, and how hard it was to get a good ‘char’ in the area. I know that means cleaning woman, but I never heard anyone say that before. Mom had told me about that a while ago, saying she hates it when people talk like that. Mom kept shaking her head yes, and not saying too much. She doesn’t join clubs and go to hairdressers and stuff.
Finally, this kid came in and Mrs. Kraft introduced her. I knew who she was the minute I saw her, anyway. Mom’s eyes got real big and she said “is this your daughter?” I didn’t blame her, the kid didn’t look my age at all.
“Well, Barbra is a little mature-looking for her age, to be sure”, Mrs. Kraft laughed. Then she introduced us to each other, me and her. She didn’t like what she saw any better than I did. She went and sat down at the other end of the room. Then she looked into the dining room and noticed a shopping bag sitting on the floor.
“Hey, Mom!” she said, real loud. “You got the stuff, eh?”
“Yes Dear”, her mother said. “Don’t bother looking at it now. You can see it later.” But Barbra got up anyway and dug into the bag and brought out all kinds of stuff like party favours and bloomers and balloons, and giggled. Her mother was annoyed with her. There was Playboy magazines and ashtrays with naked girls and some stupid things where a little kid is peeing, and some yellow stuff fills up in a toilet bowl. Barbra was laughing like crazy and playing with the stuff and her mother said, kind of mad: “Put it away”. But Barbra ignored her. Mrs. Kraft smiled, embarrassed like, at Mom, and said, it was for a bowling banquet and she was told to get the stuff. I could see she made quite an impression on Mom. I felt like laughing my fool head off.
Mom gave an embarrassed laugh, and then turned to the kid and said: “How is it I’ve never seen you before, Barbra? I thought I’d seen most of the faces around the school at one time or another in the library.”
“Oh, not me, I wouldn’t go in there. Not for anything. I hate books, I wouldn’t be seen dead in there!” Another score for me, big-time. Mom thinks that anyone who doesn’t read books is either deprived or depraved, I’m not sure which; maybe in this kid’s case, it’s both.
Barbra must wear about a size fifty-six bra if they make them that big, and she wears real tight skirts and pants and gobs of makeup and it turns out she’s a couple of months older than me, that’s all. Her hair is very neat, it’s true, but I couldn’t help wondering what Mom thought of this kid she was so eager to have me meet.
I never felt so uncomfortable! There just didn’t seem to be anything much to say, and Barbra just ignored me. She said to her mother, “Hey, guess what?”. And her mother said, “What?” And Barbra said “Remember Mr. Farraday, I told you about him, the boys’ gym teacher? Well, he’s been going out on dates with a kid in my room.”
I looked at Mrs. Kraft and she looked very pleased. Mom sure didn’t.
“Barbra”, Mom said: “Where on earth did you pick up that kind of information? I know Mr. Farraday personally and he is just not that kind of person. Besides, if any teacher ever did such a thing, he’d stand in danger of losing his job.”
“Oh, it’s true”, Barbara said. “You just ask any of the kids in my class. It’s true, he likes to go out with young girls.”
“Now Barbra”, her mother said. “That’s gossip”, and honestly, her mother laughed.
“It may be that the other girls in your class are spreading a rumour like that, but it’s malicious slander. Mr. Farraday just happens to be a handsome young man and young girls enjoy daydreaming. He’s not that kind of person though, and you would be doing him a real harm to continue talking like that”, Mom said.
“What can you do?” Mrs. Kraft said to Mom. “They talk like that.” Then she shrugged her shoulders and laughed again. “But like I always say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
“Oh yes?”, Mom said, and she didn’t look too happy. “Well, it’s been very nice, it was most interesting to meet you both, but I’m afraid we really must be getting back. I must get dinner going.” And I knew that was a lie, because it hadn’t been nice at all, and Mom didn’t feel that it had been, and there was no big hurry to get going on dinner because there was a casserole in the oven and the oven was timed to turn on automatically. I peeked when I got home from school.
“Oh well, Mrs. Feldman”, Mrs. Kraft said. “Our mutual friend thought that our girls would have a great deal in common. I wondered whether you might like me to take Jennifer with us when we go to the Community Centre on Friday nights, when I take Barbra.”
“Oh? What does Barbra do there?” Mom asked.
“Why, she meets other young people like herself. Actually, it’s an excellent place to meet really nice young men. Good calibre boys who come from the best families.”
“Why thank you, Mrs. Kraft”, Mom said. “However, Jennifer is much too young to even think about boys, let alone go out with them, and I’m afraid I would never consider permitting her to go out to the centre.” The thing is, I know and my brothers know, that Mom and Dad first met when they were both fourteen. They went out together regularly, and it wasn’t long before they were always together, and Mom’s parents didn’t like it one little bit. They said she was too young, and they weren’t all that keen on Dad’s parents. But here’s Mom, and Dad too, saying fourteen is just too young for their little precious to be ‘even thinking about boys’. Sheesh!
“That’s too bad. Your daughter has to grow up some time, you know?” Mrs. Kraft smiled, but her voice didn’t sound too friendly.
We said goodbye and when we got out on the street, Mom took a deep breath and laughed and then hugged me, and said she never wanted me to be anything like Barbra. She said I could talk like I want, and wear my hair anyway I want to, and she doesn’t care anymore. Gee, it’s really nice to be appreciated.
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