Men!
He's yelling. Spence, that is. I can hear him from here.
Does he think I'm a dog he's calling? Idiot.
Or maybe I'm the idiot. Certainly I should have handled things better -- not to mention sooner. But there are some things that aren't easy to do. And I shouldn't have had to do it. And I'm sorry I can't tell you what it is, but if I do, I'll wreck the book and Anne would never forgive me.
As it is, Spence probably isn't ever going to forgive me, either. But he's being such a bull-headed jerk, why should I care? And he could use a little forgiveness, too, as a matter of fact.
I told Anne to tell him so, but she said he has to realize that himself. I said that hell will likely freeze over first. She didn't argue with me. I wish she had. I wish he'd go to remedial hero school and learn how to behave.
The other day Anne's friend Ms Map Cabinet (so called because she is the friend whose junk and antique hunt resulted in The Map Cabinet coming home to stay) was talking about having to go to Cotillion when she was a kid. You could tell from Anne's expression that she had never realized Ms Map Cabinet had gone to Cotillion. She was especially shocked because this had been happening while she and Ms Map Cabinet were good friends (clear back in the dark ages of junior high school!). Ms Map Cabinet said she'd never said anything because she was so horrified about having to go.
You want to know the truth? I think Cotillion might have helped both Spence and me. Not that I'm going to admit it to anyone but you. Still, we'd know how to behave properly now. He wouldn't be yelling in the hallway of some seat of New York government. And I wouldn't be lurking in the ladies room writing in a blog! We'd be sickeningly proper -- and we wouldn't be in this mess.
Yes, I hear Anne saying from the other room (not yelling, just commenting), but then she wouldn't have a book. Well, there is that. Or maybe she'd just have a different book.
But neither Spence nor I went to Cotillion (I don't think they even had it in Butte. I sure don't remember anyone going!). So Anne is stuck with us, rough edges and all.
Shut up, already, Tyack! Good grief, he's going to wake the dead. He'll get us thrown out into the street. Fine. I need to go sort him out. And help Anne finish her chapter. And read my etiquette book. Not that I'll need it for Spence!
Wish me luck!
Does he think I'm a dog he's calling? Idiot.
Or maybe I'm the idiot. Certainly I should have handled things better -- not to mention sooner. But there are some things that aren't easy to do. And I shouldn't have had to do it. And I'm sorry I can't tell you what it is, but if I do, I'll wreck the book and Anne would never forgive me.
As it is, Spence probably isn't ever going to forgive me, either. But he's being such a bull-headed jerk, why should I care? And he could use a little forgiveness, too, as a matter of fact.
I told Anne to tell him so, but she said he has to realize that himself. I said that hell will likely freeze over first. She didn't argue with me. I wish she had. I wish he'd go to remedial hero school and learn how to behave.
The other day Anne's friend Ms Map Cabinet (so called because she is the friend whose junk and antique hunt resulted in The Map Cabinet coming home to stay) was talking about having to go to Cotillion when she was a kid. You could tell from Anne's expression that she had never realized Ms Map Cabinet had gone to Cotillion. She was especially shocked because this had been happening while she and Ms Map Cabinet were good friends (clear back in the dark ages of junior high school!). Ms Map Cabinet said she'd never said anything because she was so horrified about having to go.
You want to know the truth? I think Cotillion might have helped both Spence and me. Not that I'm going to admit it to anyone but you. Still, we'd know how to behave properly now. He wouldn't be yelling in the hallway of some seat of New York government. And I wouldn't be lurking in the ladies room writing in a blog! We'd be sickeningly proper -- and we wouldn't be in this mess.
Yes, I hear Anne saying from the other room (not yelling, just commenting), but then she wouldn't have a book. Well, there is that. Or maybe she'd just have a different book.
But neither Spence nor I went to Cotillion (I don't think they even had it in Butte. I sure don't remember anyone going!). So Anne is stuck with us, rough edges and all.
Shut up, already, Tyack! Good grief, he's going to wake the dead. He'll get us thrown out into the street. Fine. I need to go sort him out. And help Anne finish her chapter. And read my etiquette book. Not that I'll need it for Spence!
Wish me luck!
posted by Sadie Morrissey at 2:29 PM
6 Comments:
Sadie, I suspect that you're going to have to explain Cotillion, specially to your friends over the pond.
Here we use the word to mean a dance - as in this definition
>>e Cotillion was a popular 18th and 19th century dance in the French Courts that preceded the Quadrille style of dancing.
And occasionally debutantes attended a ball called cotillions. I have a hard tim e imagining your Spence at one of these.
I checked out USA Cotillions and suspect that that might well have made you and Spence handle things very differently - and Anne would certainly have a very different book.
But between you and me, I don't think Spence would be handling this any differently no matter how many Cotillions he went to. HE sounds like my Vito - demand first, ask questions later. (Oh sorry - I shouldn't really call him *my* Vito - he'd hit the roof if he saw that. And the trouble is I can't blame him. There's something I really should have told him.)
But at least if Spence talks to Anne about things - vene if he yells - you'll get a book worth reading out of this.
Why don't you get out of that ladies room and go and tell him he needs to stop yelling and start sorting things out?
And me? Nice of you to ask.
But I'm in a slightly different situation. I haven't seen Vito for months and now he's turned up on the doorstep.
Yelling? Well no - not yet . . . But I think he's about to start.
Good luck
Your friend and fellow heroine
Emily Lawton
Would Spence wear the white gloves?
Ms. Map Cabinet here, just wondering...
Emily,
Anne says that cotillions are also dances here, but aimed at teaching the young how to behave in social settings. So that there is more of an 'etiquette' factor than simply what would happen at a dance (like, er, dancing). The effect, had Spence or I gone, would have been to teach us Proper Behavior For Young Ladies And Gentlemen.
Apparently, in the case of Vito, if HE went to Cotillion in Sicily, it didn't work, either. What is it with these heroes?
Ms Map C,
You mean the boys DIDN'T wear white gloves? Heavens. What's the world coming to?
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In the West in about 1960, where I (Ms. Map Cabinet) attended Cotillion, we girls wore gauzey party dresses and white gloves. The boys wore suits. We learned to approach each other with due caution and politely inquire about dancing (the boys). We took the boy's arm and marched to the floor. We learned the Fox Trot, Waltz, ChaCha, and other dances. At the end of the dance, the boy would say, "Thank you for this dance." We girls would reply, "You are welcome." It was all very formal and scary. There were also some refreshments and a whole protocol about how to procure them! I was mortified, but in retrospect it is the source of some good chuckles.
Ms. Map Cabinet
(minus her white gloves!)
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