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Show house/ 428 upon the ridge of pages, as though he had l a i d claim to the entire work. The room was almost as crowded as i t would have been for meeting, 1ml mu^ Hi ^iu'packed with noise and the odors of baked bread, cooked turkey, spicy-sweet p i e s , and people - my family. Between d e c i b e l - l e v e l s of crying babies and shrieking children, I t r i e d to introduce Brian to Aunt Sarah. J was suddenly more appreciative of her quick humor and f r i e n d l y manner than ever before. I was g r a t e f u l for the soft arms t h a t enfolded me, the brown eyes t h a t communicated, ' I t ' s ok, Jeannie - whatever you've done, you know t h a t we love you.' Why, why hadn't my f a t h e r learned t h i s important lesson from her? Sarah _, . ~ Aunt : A was the only one of my f a t h e r ' s wives who had dared to t e a s e him, pinching and poking fun at the aspects of his character. ••r~rTTr~ZlZ. t h a t had over-inflated^with his- power. " . That was her way with a l l of us, and I knew she would tease Brian out of h i s s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s , too. While they chatted and joked, J glanced d e s p e r a t e l y around for my mother. She had been my envoy to the family for so long, I hardly knew ou.r how to r e l a t e h|,[ -* >•"•" without her to break open t t e conversation. How can she do t h i s to me? I thought a n g r i l y , wildly. She's late, as usual - always has been l a t e . I'm j u s t l i k e her and it drives Brian n u t s . Why, why do our l i v e s have to be so frenetic, so mad, so chaotic? And then my thoughts suspended at the sight of my f a t h e r . . ^ . . A He was seated in the only overstuffed chair among the legions °f folding c h a i r s , looking prosperous and at ease. Since the ulcer operation, he seemed h e a l t h i e r - almost complacent. He wore a good brown s u i t and h i s h a i r had gone almost white, crimped i n == natural waves = that • = reminded me of birch-bark. |