Young lady

"I will not be spoken to in this manner, young lady!" said Siobhan, the furrow in her 1950s' brow framed by the rocking ship of the pointy clear-framed glasses underneath. "You will do as I say as long as you are living under my roof!"

I defied Mama only when I had the necessity, and these days I seemed to have the necessity all the time. If it didn't involve getting a new un-feminine job, it involved a hairstyle too avante-gard for her conservative, post-war Catholic style. If the hairstyle were no issue, it revolved around my choice of dress, for any skin exposed to the opposite gender suggested an immoral streak. If the dress were no issue, then my twentieth-century literature caused a problem, for anything newer than Louisa May Alcott and those frightfully radical March sisters upset Mama to the point of vapors. And if the literature were no issue, my choice in men always caused an uproar. Mama met the most respectful, docile, placating Irish Catholic boy with a great deal of contempt and scorn that only a religious Irish Catholic family, book-ended on one side, by three nuns and a prest, and on the other side by two priests, a bishop, and a card player.

Johnny Gallagher the card player always interested me the most. He gave me lessons and pushed me to become competitive in the game of whist -- sorry, "bridge," as they've been calilng it since the 1900s. And that was practically fifty years ago. So Johnny keeps telling me, have to stand up to the clerical members of your family, because if you don't, you'll never have any fun at all. And since I like to have fun, I decided to stand up for myself.

So I went behind Mama's back and saw all the boys in high school I wanted, as well as all the boys in college who lay at my fingertips. And since I had pretty fingertips, I became very popular in college. Until I got pregnant during Christmas finals one year. Juliette the cat got pregnant right around the same time. Too bay the cat can't also carry my baby. But I have no idea what I'll do now. Won't be able to show my face and home or the church.

Being sleepy though, I think I can wait until the morning to decide. For now , I'm Scarlett O'Hara. After all, tomorrow is another day!