Read Online Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong - Free Book Online Page B

line, but he went to Columbia, a school in the Yankee epicenter, that wasps’ nest known as New York City. The fear was that Thomas would bring a girl home with him. One of the Lawson brothers had gone to New York City to study law, and he came home with a “Jewess” for a wife. That event provided for many years’ worth of chatter and gossip. The young Mrs. Lawson, née Feldmann, insisted that her husband furnish her with two of everything for the kitchen. The young Mrs. Lawson made Mr. Lawson come home before sunset but only on Friday nights. The young Mrs. Lawson performed rituals with candles and foreign-language prayers. The now-much-older Mrs. Lawson was rumored to be haughty, lacking in social graces, and rarely seen outside of her own house.
    When Thomas Hammerick returned to Charlotte alone, without altered taste in foods, scented letters, or any other visible signs of a foreign attachment, his family rewarded him with a brand-new 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, which he uncharacteristically accepted. Except for the dining room full of wedding presents three and a half years later, which weren’t his alone to refuse, Thomas never took another gift from his family. By the time I came along, his motto was “A gift means that you didn’t earn it.” Thankfully it didn’t apply to his only child. As a father, he was generous. More or less. The “less” was because he never gave me what I wanted. He gave me only what he wanted me to have. I found this was often true with philanthropy and with love. The giver’s desire and fulfillment played an important role.
    As was the case with his father and grandfather, Thomas was an only child. The quasi one-child policy within this branch of the Hammerick clan was regarded with suspicion in Mecklenburg County. It was as if the Hammerick men had stood on a street corner and announced through a bullhorn that they had lost the will to touch their wives after the first couple of tries. It also smacked of stinginess. A not-so-subtle effort to consolidate wealth, most people thought.
    The second sign that Thomas had strayed from a clearly marked path was his decision not to join the family’s business. The Hammericks had made their money in cotton, which was another way of saying that they had made their money in slaves, but beginning with Graven’s generation the family’s income no longer had a direct connection to the land. Founded by Graven, the department store of Hammerick & Sons (the s showed that Graven was an optimist in his heart of hearts) was located in downtown Charlotte in a now-landmarked building, as it had been one of the first in the city to feature an electric elevator. Hammerick & Sons had to turn to a distant relation of the family to take over as the store’s general manager. But even that didn’t cause the family gates to shut on my father. Thomas was still in his family’s good graces because he hadn’t strayed very far. He had moved to Shelby in nearby Cleveland County and accepted a position with the law firm of Fletcher Burch, which weren’t the last names of two people but the full name of one man.
    When he was alive, “Fletch” Burch had a reputation. That was all that was ever said about Fletch in polite company, and, according to Baby Harper, my grandparents Spartan and Glory Hammerick were very polite. They were also very well informed. They knew that the law firm of Fletcher Burch had been in the capable hands of his son-in-law, Walter Wendell Whatley, ever since Burch’s untimely death in a house fire. Through Spartan’s cronies within the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, he knew that Walter Wendell was going to run for a judgeship and that he was going to win. Through Glory’s crones within the Charlotte Junior League, she knew that Walter Wendell and his wife, Iris, had an unmarried, pretty, blond daughter who was the same age as Thomas. Among the Hammericks, having a judge in the family was as good as having a minister. The