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The Tremarchi family sat around
the dinner table together for the first time in a long while. With Sophia home
from university for good at last, her mother Catherine finally felt whole again.
It was stupid, she knew, but she couldn’t help feeling alive again after three
years. She should feel some sense of freedom when the children leave home, even
if just for a short time, but she had suffered from empty nest syndrome and was
glad to have some reprieve for the moment. Oh, Sophia probably would move out of
home for good soon; she was 21 now, and Michael would be going to university
himself in another couple of years. But for now, Catherine was happy to have
them all in the same house together again.
There was some friction between
Sophia and Palmero, she noticed. That was unusual, Sophia was often so laid back
that rarely anything got her in a bad mood. And as far as Catherine knew, they
had barely spoken since Palmero had gotten home an hour ago, only a few minutes
after Sophia arrived. When had they had time to fight? Catherine decided to
ignore it for now, they were both probably just tired.
“Anyone for more salad?” A
silence chorus of shaking heads answered her, so she pushed the salad aside.
Instead, Catherine decided to try sparking up the conversation a bit. “So
Sophia, I guess now you’re going to be putting that degree to good use and
find a wonderful job?”
“That’s the idea,” Sophia
replied between sips of wine. She shot a quick glance at her father, who saw it
but pretended not to.
“Oh, this is so exciting. You
know, you are the first Tremarchi to have a university degree. I would have, but
marriage changed things in those days.”
“You could still go, Mum, as a
mature age student,” Sophia offered her domesticated mother.
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly
do anything like that now. I’ll just have to live through you two,” she
laughed. No one laughed with her. Sophia took another glass of wine. Michael sat
there almost comatose, as most sixteen-year-olds forced to spend time with their
family do, and Palmero did his best to avoid Sophia’s gaze.
As her mother struggled to find
something alternative to say that wouldn’t be met with silence, Sophia began a
conversation of her own.
“I like the new car, Dad.
Business down at the butchery must be going well?” The sarcasm in her voice
wasn’t lost on Palmero, but the other two didn’t seem to notice it.
“Yeah, it is, princess,” he
replied through a mouthful of pasta, knowing full well his wife would reprimand
him for doing so and save him from further conversation.
“Oh, honestly Palmero, were
you born in a cave? I swear your father has no manners at all …”
“What the hell do you do with
an economics degree anyway?” Michael’s voice sounded for the first time
since dinner had been served.
“Michael! Language!” Michael
ignored his mother, shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his Coke.
“She’ll get a long standing job in the public service, or something like
that, won’t you honey?”
“I guess,” Sophia shrugged
herself.
“I thought the university had
an employment program. You didn’t check to see what was available this last
semester?”
“I thought I’d come home and
have a bit of a holiday first, then explore my options,” Sophia darted more
ignored glances at her father.
“Alright, but not too long a
holiday. You’ve got to make use of that degree, you’ve worked hard for
it.”
“Are you going to move out of
home again,” Michael blurted.
“Oh now, let’s not talk
about that right now,” Catherine snapped as she felt the pangs of loneliness
in her heart again and, to ignore it, set about clearing the table.
“Can I go now?” Michael
asked.
“You’re not going to spend
more time with your sister? She just got home,” Palmero reprimanded, hoping to
have someone around to take Sophia’s focus off him.
“It’s okay, we’re going to
hang out tomorrow,” Sophia said, and though Michael wasn’t thrilled by the
prospect of being seen out in public with his sister, it was a welcome way out
of the dining room.
Catherine moved into the kitchen
as Michael made his escape, and Palmero stood immediately and walked out the
back door. Sophia watched him through the French doors, standing with his back
to the house lighting up a cigar. As he moved away and further into the yard,
Sophia finished the last of her wine and took it back to the kitchen. Her mother
fussed over the dishwasher but looked up and smiled at her.
“It’s so good to have you
home. You don’t know how much these boys have been driving me crazy,” she
smiled.
“Need another woman around,
huh?”
“Very much so.” Catherine
looked out the back doors. “Your father has been awfully quiet tonight.
Something must have happened at work.”
“I’ll go talk to him,”
Sophia offered, taking the chance she was hoping for. She stepped out of the
doors, and as soon as she was out of sight of her mother, she took out a packet
of cigarettes from her pocket and lit one up. She saw the faint glow of her
father’s cigar down the back of the yard and went to it. He didn’t turn as
she approached him.
“When did you start
smoking?”
“There’s a lot of things you
don’t know about me, Dad. Or what I can do.”
They stood in silence, taking in
the summer night air and the sounds of crickets. Sophia looked at her father,
his silhouette dim in the moonlight, but she could still make out the shape of
his eyes, and right now they were narrowed. Good. He was thinking at least. He
might be thinking of another way to tell her to get real, but he was thinking
all the same. When she finished her cigarette,
she threw the butt to the ground and stomped it out. She turned to go, but heard
him speak softly.
“Come and see me tomorrow, at
the office, around eleven o’clock."
© Cynthia M. Piromalli
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
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