[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
support of her family.
She also tended to embroider on the truth a little and was given to
hysteria and histrionics. But her family considered her only a little
highstrung. And, in upper-class southern women, being high-strung was
almost an admirable trait, bespeaking fine genes. The Silers had
produced a number of "high-strung" females. When their antics became
tiresome, the rest of the family intoned, "She needs professional
help." Otherwise, they scarcely noticed a tizzy or two.
In 19S9, Pat and the children again tried living with Gil-in the
Magnolia Gardens Apartments in Falls Church, Virginia. "I think we
were too much for her-without my grandmother to help," Susan
recalled.
There was a new, frenetic quality about Pat. She fought constantly
with a woman who lived in an upstairs apartment. Margureitte, by now
back in the States, was appalled when she visited and heard Pat
screaming insults. "You're actin like a fishwife, Pat," she gently
remonstrated.
Pat kept the door locked all the time, frightening her children with
Page 109
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
warnings that someone was trying to get in. Susan yearned to breathe
fresh air and escaped outside whenever she could. She wandered all
over the neighborhood-alone-but felt safer than when she was locked in
with her mother's fears.
There was no one trying to break into the apartment; Pat simply wanted
Gil to come home and help her, and her stories usually got her what she
wanted.
She was often hysterical, but that too served a purpose. When she was
small, she had only to stamp her foot and pitch a fit to get her way.
Now, she was using the same methods. And what Pat really wanted was to
go home, to live with Boppo and Papa and have all the onerous burdens
of parenthood lifted from her shoulders.
She also wanted to be rich.
Pat still dressed her children with exquisite good taste.
She fixated on the way Jackie Kennedy dressed John-John, and she wanted
Ronnie to look just like him. She saved her money to buy her babies
the very best. But on at least one occasion, she was apprehended for
shoplifting in a Falls Church department store.
She had hidden some Feltman Brothers toddlers' outfits in her
clothes.
Among the most expensive children's clothing made, Feltman Brothers'
garments were far beyond Pat's budget.
Margureitte was aghast. "That terrible, terrible, rude store detective
took her to the front office and just treated her very, very badly. We
could have sued them, but we decided not to."
Things in Falls Church were not going well. Ronnie was having
convulsions, which would continue regularly until he was almost twelve,
and Pat wrote that no one in the entire state of Virginia was even
civil to her. When Margureitte heard her daughter's version of her
life in Falls Church, she insisted that she move home to Atlanta at
once.
Of Margureitte's two children, her son was the one who truly needed
some bolstering, but he rarely asked for help and Pat's demands drowned
him out. Now a handsome and powerfully built young man, Kent had come
home from Germany with a broken heart.
He had fallen completely in love-the all-out, noprotective-walls first
love that happens only once. The girl was German, tall and
flaxen-haired. Her name was Marianne Krauss. She loved Kent too.
She was an extremely nice girl and she wanted to marry him. But she
couldn't even imagine leaving her parents to go off to America
forever.
Nor could Kent face never going home again. In the end, when he left
Germany he was as alone as he had ever been.
His troubles piled up and he occasionally drank too much.
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Sober, Kent was as gentle as most really big men are; he had nothing to
prove. His strength was awesome. Even a little tipsy, he was
good-natured. But if he drank a few bottles of beer or too many rum
and Cokes over his limit and someone put him down, he went wild. Kent
could level a bar in no time.
But that really wasn't him. The episodes were aberrations.
Kent, when in emotional pain, was far more likely to turn inwardto
blame himself for whatever went wrong. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szamanka888.keep.pl
support of her family.
She also tended to embroider on the truth a little and was given to
hysteria and histrionics. But her family considered her only a little
highstrung. And, in upper-class southern women, being high-strung was
almost an admirable trait, bespeaking fine genes. The Silers had
produced a number of "high-strung" females. When their antics became
tiresome, the rest of the family intoned, "She needs professional
help." Otherwise, they scarcely noticed a tizzy or two.
In 19S9, Pat and the children again tried living with Gil-in the
Magnolia Gardens Apartments in Falls Church, Virginia. "I think we
were too much for her-without my grandmother to help," Susan
recalled.
There was a new, frenetic quality about Pat. She fought constantly
with a woman who lived in an upstairs apartment. Margureitte, by now
back in the States, was appalled when she visited and heard Pat
screaming insults. "You're actin like a fishwife, Pat," she gently
remonstrated.
Pat kept the door locked all the time, frightening her children with
Page 109
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
warnings that someone was trying to get in. Susan yearned to breathe
fresh air and escaped outside whenever she could. She wandered all
over the neighborhood-alone-but felt safer than when she was locked in
with her mother's fears.
There was no one trying to break into the apartment; Pat simply wanted
Gil to come home and help her, and her stories usually got her what she
wanted.
She was often hysterical, but that too served a purpose. When she was
small, she had only to stamp her foot and pitch a fit to get her way.
Now, she was using the same methods. And what Pat really wanted was to
go home, to live with Boppo and Papa and have all the onerous burdens
of parenthood lifted from her shoulders.
She also wanted to be rich.
Pat still dressed her children with exquisite good taste.
She fixated on the way Jackie Kennedy dressed John-John, and she wanted
Ronnie to look just like him. She saved her money to buy her babies
the very best. But on at least one occasion, she was apprehended for
shoplifting in a Falls Church department store.
She had hidden some Feltman Brothers toddlers' outfits in her
clothes.
Among the most expensive children's clothing made, Feltman Brothers'
garments were far beyond Pat's budget.
Margureitte was aghast. "That terrible, terrible, rude store detective
took her to the front office and just treated her very, very badly. We
could have sued them, but we decided not to."
Things in Falls Church were not going well. Ronnie was having
convulsions, which would continue regularly until he was almost twelve,
and Pat wrote that no one in the entire state of Virginia was even
civil to her. When Margureitte heard her daughter's version of her
life in Falls Church, she insisted that she move home to Atlanta at
once.
Of Margureitte's two children, her son was the one who truly needed
some bolstering, but he rarely asked for help and Pat's demands drowned
him out. Now a handsome and powerfully built young man, Kent had come
home from Germany with a broken heart.
He had fallen completely in love-the all-out, noprotective-walls first
love that happens only once. The girl was German, tall and
flaxen-haired. Her name was Marianne Krauss. She loved Kent too.
She was an extremely nice girl and she wanted to marry him. But she
couldn't even imagine leaving her parents to go off to America
forever.
Nor could Kent face never going home again. In the end, when he left
Germany he was as alone as he had ever been.
His troubles piled up and he occasionally drank too much.
Page 110
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Sober, Kent was as gentle as most really big men are; he had nothing to
prove. His strength was awesome. Even a little tipsy, he was
good-natured. But if he drank a few bottles of beer or too many rum
and Cokes over his limit and someone put him down, he went wild. Kent
could level a bar in no time.
But that really wasn't him. The episodes were aberrations.
Kent, when in emotional pain, was far more likely to turn inwardto
blame himself for whatever went wrong. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]