After trying on several
outfits, Tammy finally chose a sand-colored linen pantsuit and a long-sleeved
cobalt blue blouse. The only shoes she could find to fit were a pair of brown
pumps.
"I don't know,"
Tammy hedged as she continued to stare at the shoes. "The backs are sort
of rough looking."
"They're not that
bad," Rona argued. "The pants are long enough to cover the worst of
the wear." She put her hands on her hips and tried to mimic Tammy's
earlier tone. "Besides, you can't wear your tennis shoes with you new
clothes."
Tammy continued to stare at
the shoes.
"Take the shoes and let's
go," Rona said. "It's already after four and we have a long walk
back."
Tammy reluctantly put the
shoes in her cart.
On the way to the register,
Rona found a large bin with new socks. She added a package of black ones to her
stack. She ignored Tammy's sigh. By the time the socks and tax were added to
Rona's purchases, she was left with five dollars and some change.
"Investment," Tammy
whispered in her ear as she began to unload her items onto the counter. Since
most of the kids' clothes were either a dime or a quarter, Tammy's total
purchase was only slightly more than half of Rona's.
"Why was my investment so
much more than yours was?" she groused as they left the store.
Tammy laughed and ignored her
grumbling.
A short distance from the
thrift store they came across a bus stop. A young Hispanic woman helped them
choose the bus they needed to get back to Anna's neighborhood.
Chapter Sixteen
Rona heard the television when
they stepped into the living room. Anna must be back from her parents' house
already, she thought as she took Tammy's bags. "I'll take this stuff
upstairs for you."
"No, that's okay. I want
to wash everything," Tammy said. "Give me your things and I'll wash
them for you, so you'll have diem for tomorrow."
"You don't have to do
that."
"I know I don't, but you
only have a few pieces, so give them here."
Rona handed the bags over.
"It looks like someone
has been shopping," Anna called as she walked out of the den. Before
anyone could respond, she called out, "You got your hair cut."
Rona's hand flew to her hair.
"Tammy cut it for me."
"It looks great. You look
so different." Anna came closer for a better look. "You did a
wonderful job, Tammy."
"Thanks. I used to cut my
dad's hair."
"Turn around and let me
see the back," Anna instructed.
Rona did so with as much grace
as she could. She jumped when Anna ran her hand lightly over the back of her
head. It seemed to her that the room had suddenly gotten deadly quiet.
Katie broke the awkward
moment. "We got new clothes and books," she announced proudly.
"You have new
books," Anna said as she stepped away from Rona. "Will you read one
to me? I love books."
"I can't read. You'll
have to read it to me," Katie replied. "But I can do my ABCs."
"Well, I guess that's
only fair," Anna agreed.
Rona turned to find Tammy
watching her and giving her that little shit-eating grin.
Katie turned to Tammy.
"Can I have my book now?"
Tammy dug through the bags and
pulled out both books.
Rona excused herself, pleading
exhaustion, and raced up the stairs. In her room, she sat on the foot of the
bed and recalled the way Anna's fingers had felt in her hair. Before she could
decide how she felt about it, there was a knock on her door. She went to open
it.
"Are you okay?"
Tammy asked.
"Yeah, I just wanted to
rest a while."
"If you're not too tired,
Mrs. Pagonis sent us food."
"That sounds good. I'm
starved."
"Well," Tammy scolded
playfully, "if you hadn't slept until ten o'clock, you could have had
breakfast with us."
After they ate, Tammy and Rona
cleaned the kitchen. The twins were in the den with Anna. Tammy had just turned
on the dishwasher when the three of them came into the kitchen. "What's
up?" Tammy asked when she saw the twins smiling.
"We're going to make a
snowman," Karla announced.
"Karla, I've told you
there's not enough snow to make a snowman."
"We're not going to make
it out of snow this time," Anna informed them as she began to pull items
from the pantry. "This snowman is going to be edible."
Rona and Tammy took seats
behind the table and watched as the twins, standing on chairs, helped Anna make
a white cake batter.
As Anna dug through the
cabinets for cake pans, Rona asked, "Exactly how does this cake become a
snowman?"
"Ah, here they are."
She came back to the table with a set of three pans, each slightly smaller.
"Here's the magic part," Anna said as she arranged the pans smallest
to largest.
Rona nodded. "Okay, I got
you."
They all pitched in to help
pour the batter into the pans. As soon as the batter-filled pans were in the
oven, Anna began to clean up their mess. The twins helped by putting spoons and
spatulas in the dishwasher. After several minutes, the timer dinged.
"Are they done?"
Katie asked.
"Let's check and
see," Anna said as she handed each child a toothpick.
Rona watched as die twins
carefully inserted the toothpicks into the center of the largest cake, then
held them up for Anna to examine.
"They're done. We need to
let them cool," Anna said as she placed the cakes on racks.
While they waited, she and the
girls whipped up a thick white frosting. As soon as the cakes were cool, she
placed them on a large cookie sheet.
"I think we should all
help build this snowman," Anna declared as she passed out butter knives to
everyone to help frost the cake. To finish off their masterpiece, Anna produced
a jar of gumdrops. She let the twins choose the colors for the snowman's eyes,
nose and mouth. With the last gumdrop in place, she and Rona moved it to the
middle of the kitchen table.
"I've never seen a
prettier snowman," Rona said.
"Do you like this
snowman, Karla?" Tammy asked.
Karla nodded her head
vigorously and smiled. "We can eat this one," she said with a giggle.
A new surge of activity
erupted as plates and silverware were gathered. Glasses of ice-cold milk
appeared. Soon the clank of silverware and an occasional sigh of contentment
were the only sounds in the kitchen.
Afterward the twins
disappeared to the den to watch the
Dora the Explorer
DVD for the tenth
time, and the women began to clean the kitchen again.
"That was sweet of you to
do that," Tammy told Anna.
"Thanks, but I enjoyed it
as much as they did," Anna said.
Rona rubbed her tummy. "I
think we all enjoyed it."
After the kitchen was clean,
they sat back down at the kitchen table.
"Why is it that women
always end up sitting around the kitchen table?" Tammy asked.
Anna shook her head. "I
don't know, but it always seems to happen. Some of the most important decisions
in my life were made at Mom and Dad's kitchen table."
"What kind of
decisions?" Rona asked. She wanted to know what the story was behind the
box with the word
bitch
on it. She was sure it was a romance gone sour
but couldn't ask outright. Maybe she could lead the conversation around to it.
Anna ran a finger over her
lip. "We were sitting at the table when we decided which college I would attend
and, again, when I decided to change my major from pre-med to finance. My
entire family was at the table when I came out to them," she said and
rolled her eyes.
"How did they handle
that?" Tammy asked.
"It was sort of
shock," Anna said. "I was afraid my father might have problems
accepting it, but he didn't. It was Julian."
"He seems so
easy-going," Tammy said as she moved her chair into a more comfortable
position.
"Julian and I rebelled at
about the same time. He went through a short period where everything had to
revolve around him." Anna leaned back in her chair. "If it didn't
concern him, he wasn't interested in it. At this same time, he became fixated
with image. He didn't want people to know his family owned a restaurant. He
started hanging around with a group of kids whose parents were doctors, lawyers
or corporate CEOs. He wanted to be seen at the right places, wearing the right
clothes and hanging with the right people. At that time, having a lesbian
sister wasn't exactly considered chic." She went to the wine cooler and
came back with a bottle of red wine and three glasses. She poured the wine
before continuing. "I went through something similar, but my thing was to
shout to the world that I was a lesbian." She grimaced. "I do mean
shout. I plastered gay and lesbian pride bumper stickers on my parents' car. I
wore T-shirts and buttons announcing I was a lesbian. Everything I owned had
either a rainbow or a pink triangle on it."
"How old were you?"
Tammy asked.
"I was eighteen or
nineteen, and Julian is three years younger than me."
"Did you catch a lot of
crap from strangers?" Rona asked.
Anna nodded. "I would get
a lot of nasty looks or comments from strangers. I can't tell you how many
times my poor parents had their car egged before Hector explained what the
rainbow triangle on their bumper meant."
"How did your parents
handle it?" Tammy asked.
"You taking notes for the
future?" Rona teased.
Tammy made a face at Rona and
turned back to Anna.
"My parents believe in
family, community, country and God. Dad says if you do right by the first three
then you've already honored God. They also believe hard work will cure
anything. We were always active in the church and community, but when Julian
and I went on our tear, my parents decided it was time for us to start thinking
more about other people. They saw to it that whenever we weren't working at the
restaurant we were doing volunteer work for either the community or the church
and they were right there beside us working. They volunteered us to work with
underprivileged kids, with the battered women's shelter and with AIDS patients.
Somewhere in all that Julian and I both realized that
material possessions and sexual orientation aren't the
defining factors of a person's worth."
"It's always easier to
overlook material possessions when you have plenty of them," Rona
challenged. She despised those men and women who showed up to work at the soup
kitchen in their fancy clothes and jewelry.
A spark of anger flashed in
Anna's eyes. "My family received help when they needed it, but they also
worked hard and earned what they have now."
Rona wasn't interested in a
Pagonis history lesson, but she sensed she was about to get one.
"I told you that my
grandparents, Nicholas and Damara Pagonis, were from Lakonia," Anna said
as poured them more wine. "They came to this country in nineteen
thirty-seven with three children. The oldest was six and my father, the
youngest, was two. They were going to Chicago, where my grandfather's cousin
lived. Grandfather was a carpenter and his cousin had a job waiting for him,
but on the trip over, my grandfather got very sick. As soon as the ship docked
in New York, he was hospitalized. He spent almost a month there and then
another three months regaining his strength. They didn't have much money, and
my grandmother had to locate a place for her and the kids to live and then find
a way to feed them. She met an old woman who rented out her bedroom. The old
woman slept in the living room. She helped Grandmother get a job taking in
sewing. It was actually embroidering. They paid Grandmother by the piece. At
some point during all this the cousin in Chicago was contacted, and he informed
them that he could only hold the job two more weeks." She sipped her wine
and shrugged. "Of course, there was no way Grandfather could travel, much
less work. The sewing Grandmother took in didn't provide enough to buy food for
them. She didn't want to worry my grandfather and tried to hide the fact that
she was broke, but things became so bad she finally had to tell him when the
old woman threatened to make her move out. Apparently, someone who volunteered
at the hospital overheard the conversation. She helped my grandparents get in
touch with an Orthodox Greek church that found them a place to stay rent-free
and helped with groceries until Grandfather was on his feet. The church helped
him find work on a construction crew afterward."
Rona wanted to interrupt, but
Anna was clearly not finished.
"My dad never finished
high school. He went to work in construction when he was sixteen. When he was
nineteen, he came to San Antonio to live with an uncle. Two years later, he met
Mom."
A rich rose tint warmed Anna's
cheeks. Rona wasn't sure if it was the wine or Anna's passionate feelings
causing the glow.