physical change. You've
taken great care that everybody
should
notice that. You even do your eyes. It's an impressive transformation.' That's when I said, 'What do you think Dad would think?' And she said, 'He couldn't be here because a new play opens in a few days and he can't leave it. But he wanted to come to see you, and as soon as the play is on, he will come, if that's all right with you. And then you can ask him directly what he thinks. So there we are. Want to go shopping?' she said to me. 'I'm admiring your shoes. Where'd you get them?' I told her, and she said, 'Would you object if I bought a pair like that? Want to go with me to get them?' And so we took a taxi to Madison Avenue and she bought a pair of two-toned pink-and-beige patent leather pumps with a pointy toe and a kitten heel in her size. Now she's walking around Michigan in my Prada shoes. She also admired my skirt, so we went shopping for a skirt for her cut like mine down in SoHo. Good ending, isn't it? But late in the afternoon, you know what she said, before leaving for the airport with her bags from the shopping? This, and not the shoes, is the true ending. She said, 'What you were trying to do with me at lunch, Pegeen, was make it sound like the sanest and most
reasonable arrangement on the planet, when of course it isn't. But people on the outside are only going to frustrate you if they try to talk you out of what you wake up every day wanting and what is buoying you above everybody's humdrum sameness. I have to tell you that when I first learned of this I thought it was wacky and ill advised. And now that I've spoken with you and spent the day with you and been shopping with you for the first time, really, since you went off to college, now that I've seen that you're completely calm, rational, and thoughtful about it, I still think it's wacky and ill advised.'"
Here Pegeen stopped. It had taken her close to half an hour to repeat the conversation to him, and in that time he had not spoken or moved from his chair, nor had he told her to stop on any of those several occasions when he thought he'd heard enough. But it was not in his interest to tell her to stopâit was in his interest to find out everything, to hear everything, even, if he had to, to hear her say, "I couldn't yet declare that it's definitely the permutation I will always want."
"That's it. That's all," Pegeen said. "That's pretty close to what was said."
"Was it better or worse than you expected?" he asked.
"Much better. I was very anxious driving down there."
"Well, it sounds as though you had no need to be. You handled yourself very well."
"Then I was very anxious coming back, about telling you all this and knowing that, if I was truthful, you weren't going to like everything you heard."
"Well, there was no need for that either."
"Really? I hope my telling you everything hasn't turned you against my mother."
"Your mother said what a mother would say. I understand." He laughed and said, "I can't say that I disagree with her."
Softly, and flushing as she spoke, Pegeen said, "I hope it hasn't turned you against me."
"It's made me admire you," he said. "You didn't flinch from anything, either in talking with her or now in talking with me."
"Truly? You're not hurt?"
"No." But of course he wasâhurt and angry. He had sat there listening quietlyâintently listening as he'd been listening all his life, offstage and onâbut
he was particularly stung by Carol's clarification of the aging process and the jeopardy in which it placed her daughter. Nor, however softly he now spoke, was he unperturbed by "wacky and ill advised." The whole thing disgusted him, really. It might be all right if Pegeen were twenty-two and there were forty years' difference between them, but why this peculiar proprietary relationship with an adventurous forty-year-old? And what the hell did a woman of forty care what her parents wanted? A part of them, he thought, should be happy that she
taken great care that everybody
should
notice that. You even do your eyes. It's an impressive transformation.' That's when I said, 'What do you think Dad would think?' And she said, 'He couldn't be here because a new play opens in a few days and he can't leave it. But he wanted to come to see you, and as soon as the play is on, he will come, if that's all right with you. And then you can ask him directly what he thinks. So there we are. Want to go shopping?' she said to me. 'I'm admiring your shoes. Where'd you get them?' I told her, and she said, 'Would you object if I bought a pair like that? Want to go with me to get them?' And so we took a taxi to Madison Avenue and she bought a pair of two-toned pink-and-beige patent leather pumps with a pointy toe and a kitten heel in her size. Now she's walking around Michigan in my Prada shoes. She also admired my skirt, so we went shopping for a skirt for her cut like mine down in SoHo. Good ending, isn't it? But late in the afternoon, you know what she said, before leaving for the airport with her bags from the shopping? This, and not the shoes, is the true ending. She said, 'What you were trying to do with me at lunch, Pegeen, was make it sound like the sanest and most
reasonable arrangement on the planet, when of course it isn't. But people on the outside are only going to frustrate you if they try to talk you out of what you wake up every day wanting and what is buoying you above everybody's humdrum sameness. I have to tell you that when I first learned of this I thought it was wacky and ill advised. And now that I've spoken with you and spent the day with you and been shopping with you for the first time, really, since you went off to college, now that I've seen that you're completely calm, rational, and thoughtful about it, I still think it's wacky and ill advised.'"
Here Pegeen stopped. It had taken her close to half an hour to repeat the conversation to him, and in that time he had not spoken or moved from his chair, nor had he told her to stop on any of those several occasions when he thought he'd heard enough. But it was not in his interest to tell her to stopâit was in his interest to find out everything, to hear everything, even, if he had to, to hear her say, "I couldn't yet declare that it's definitely the permutation I will always want."
"That's it. That's all," Pegeen said. "That's pretty close to what was said."
"Was it better or worse than you expected?" he asked.
"Much better. I was very anxious driving down there."
"Well, it sounds as though you had no need to be. You handled yourself very well."
"Then I was very anxious coming back, about telling you all this and knowing that, if I was truthful, you weren't going to like everything you heard."
"Well, there was no need for that either."
"Really? I hope my telling you everything hasn't turned you against my mother."
"Your mother said what a mother would say. I understand." He laughed and said, "I can't say that I disagree with her."
Softly, and flushing as she spoke, Pegeen said, "I hope it hasn't turned you against me."
"It's made me admire you," he said. "You didn't flinch from anything, either in talking with her or now in talking with me."
"Truly? You're not hurt?"
"No." But of course he wasâhurt and angry. He had sat there listening quietlyâintently listening as he'd been listening all his life, offstage and onâbut
he was particularly stung by Carol's clarification of the aging process and the jeopardy in which it placed her daughter. Nor, however softly he now spoke, was he unperturbed by "wacky and ill advised." The whole thing disgusted him, really. It might be all right if Pegeen were twenty-two and there were forty years' difference between them, but why this peculiar proprietary relationship with an adventurous forty-year-old? And what the hell did a woman of forty care what her parents wanted? A part of them, he thought, should be happy that she
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