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Show in my father's house/ 49 and enjoyed a monogamous sojourn except for weekends when my father came back to the white house to visit his children for a few hours. During the parole -- after twelve years of waiting -- Gerda conceived a son; the wide margin of time granted her by the authorities suddenly seemed sustained by the hand of God. When parole ended and the mothers quilted together in the white house kitchen, Aunt Gerda stabbed the material with her needle. "Oh, well, who wants whipped cream every night? Then it isn't special anymore." Aunt Sarah looked up. "I'd trade places with you in a minute, Gerda," she said. "I'd love to have whipped cream everynight." Despite her apparently blase attitude and the growth of her family, Gerda continued to display a fondness for whipped cream -- if not every night, then as often as possible. When I asked my mother about Aunt Gerda's favored status, she said, "Some say the Law of Sarah gives the first wife dominion over the other wives because Sarah in the Bible gave her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham. But Gerda wasn't supposed to be the first wife. Rachel was engaged to your father before Gerda even met him. And besides, I don't believe in that notion anyway -- there's not a word of scripture to support it. We all have rights, not just the first wife. Still...some people in the group see it the other way...." she paused and smiled to herself. "Especially the first wives." |
