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Show to become bitter again. I would not regress. I pushed the jealousy and anger away. "He must have had a really good reason, I sighed. My mother nodded. Then her eyes filled with tears. "But I can't tell you the torment it has caused." "Torment, Mama?" So that was the source of her pain! I was ift shocked She had never shown the least sign of jealousy or of competition with the others, always content with her place, albeit near the bottom of the pecking order. I covered her hand with mine. "Maybe you should talk about it, Mama. You know, Brother Reardon* s right. Sometimes it is a good idea to get your feelings out." I knew that first-hand. I had been visiting a counselor for the past two months. Despite the immense relief of sharing my family secrets with someone around whom I could also acknowledge its imperfections, I had not been able to assuage my guilt over the confessional - nor could I now convince myself that encouraging my mother to talk was not subversive to my father' s power ovr her. She sighed deeply and wiped her eyes. "Your father says how crazy it is that he's cured so many people of their nervous ailments. 'Everyone but my own wife,' he says. I know it makes him feel badly. But I can't help it." "He can't cure you because he's part of the problem, Mama," I said. She glanced up and there was surprise and comprehension in her face, as though I had successfully read her mind. Then her face collapsed and she began to weep in earnest, covering her eyes with her hands* *k®*ettgh^r^srramed-o-f h e r "I couldn't tell you while it was happening. I felt... |
