Elizabeth Milligan
Writing Assignment for November 19, 2007
Prompt: “Our ancestors survive somewhere in our faces” & Dialogue
Mary-Ad
When I was a child living at home, it always used to distress me that my mom treated her aunt Mary-Ad’s frequent phone calls so casually as to seem disrespectful. Mary-Ad would call several times a week, sometimes several times a day, and often when my mother was preparing dinner.
Mary-Ad would talk and talk and my mother would hold the receiver on her right shoulder tucked between her ear and her chin and listen, uttering a few words here and there so that her aunt knew she was still on the line. Standing near my mother, usually by the sink, I could hear my great aunt talk away and it did seem that she was oblivious to whether her niece was really there. Usually, she talked about things that worried her.
All this time, my mother would be rattling pans, running water, chopping, and cooking within the area circumscribed by our brand new twelve foot curly telephone cord. Sometimes, she would get all tangled up in the cord. Sometimes she would roll her eyes. Most times, Mary Ad spoke loudly enough that I could hear her.
“Louise, I can’t believe you are letting your children learn to drive on the junkers that Jake insists on keeping. It is so unsafe. It worries me so.”
“They’ll be fine Mary-Ad.”
“Louise, I can’t believe that you are taking the children to that optician in the run down town near you. That place seems shady to me. Well, not so much shady as that the optician does not seem to be terribly skilled. I’ve never heard of her. You don’t want to fool with eyesight. I hope you are not doing this just because the price is lower. After all, you get what you pay for.”
“True, the town has seen better days, but I like the optician and I know her mother – the best science teacher in our high school.”
“Louise, I can’t believe that you take the children to that orthodontist for braces. I know braces aren’t cheap, but I have never heard of this fellow. I mentioned his name when Mildred and Fred came over last night for cocktails and they both raised their eyebrows. They didn’t know him either and they have heard all about the city’s best orthodontists because their daughter just researched them for her own children.”
“Well, Jake’s nieces and nephews all went there and their teeth look fine.”
“Louise, I can’t believe that you are putting Betsy on a city bus to get to her tutoring sessions this summer. That neighborhood is very dangerous. I don’t want her standing out at a bus stop in the evening. I know that this is Jake’s doing. I’ll buy passes to Yellow Cab that she can use for the summer. You just tell them where to be when and they will have a cab waiting for her.”
“That’s very generous of you, Mary-Ad. Thanks”
“It’s the least I can do, Louise”
“OK. I have to run now. Jake and Johnny are leaving now to pick you up. I see them backing down the driveway. They should be there in about fifteen minutes. Just wait in the lobby and watch for them. They’ll pull up to the front door.”
“Alright. I’ll watch for them. Only fifteen minutes? I hope Jake drives carefully. And Louise, I made some meringues for dessert.”
Monday, November 19, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Dragon Lady
Elizabeth Milligan
Writing Assignment for November 5, 2007
On Specifics and Character
Dragon Lady
- Sylvia, her regal profile would have graced a Roman coin with distinction
Houston, Texas - It was near the end of a week day in 1981. I was sitting at my desk, gazing out the window at the cityscape below, when the phone rang. It was my friend, Sylvia. Her voice, usually strong and mellifluous, was weak and wavering. I switched from a speaker phone to a conventional phone. “Elizabeth, Jim just put me on four weeks notice.”
Sylvia worked at Oil Partners, a small independent oil company in Houston that specialized in buying land leases. Her news was simply a sign of the times - the price of crude was $13 a barrel and business was slow, lines for unemployment checks were long. But she was undone and I had never before heard her so distressed.
What could I do?
The nicest restaurant closest to both of us was the Rainbow Lodge, a restaurant that Sylvia had recommended to me once. Since then, I had booked my favorite table there whenever I wanted quiet and elegant comfort.
“Sylvia, meet me at the Rainbow Lodge at 6:30, my treat”
At 6:30, the hostess ushered us to the table in a small windowed alcove overlooking the grounds. A stream cascaded down strategically placed rocks surrounded by plants and trees decorated with strings of colored lights. The interior looked like a great hunting lodge and massive beams hovered high above linen-draped tables. Usually, the clash of the riotous external décor with the high caliber of the service amused me to no end, but my attention was elsewhere this time.
Both Sylvia and I ordered bourbon on the rocks with a splash of water and a twist. After the server brought us our drinks, Sylvia began to talk.
“Jim was not only like a father to me, he was a good friend. He and Helen, his wife, had me over to their place for dinner many times. I guess I could have seen it coming. Times have been hard in the oil business and Jim’s company is small. He held off for as long as his partners let him. I have never seen him as upset as he was when he gave me notice today. He says I can use the company’s resources for as long as I need to find a new job.”
I nodded in empathy. As I studied the candle flame, I noted Sylvia’s hunched shoulders and wet eyes.
“I grew up in Brooklyn. All of my relatives lived nearby. If I fell and scraped my knee anywhere, I knew that relatives lived on that block and I could just go to their door for help … Back then, I wanted a store-bought dress more than anything. My mother made all of my clothes; such fine hand-stitching and finished inseams and hems. When I was thirteen, I was allowed to buy dresses off the rack and I was amazed at how poorly they were made; such sloppy workmanship … I got married when I was seventeen. I had just graduated from high school. Even though my parents had married at the same age, both of them wanted me to wait until I finished college. So, I promised to get my college degree … My husband was very successful and my parents adored him. Daddy started to carve a cradle for his first grandchild.
“After I graduated from Barnard, I worked at Davis Polk in Manhattan …”
“Sorry Sylvia, I know I should know but I don't. What kind of a firm is Davis Polk?”
“…Oh – the biggest law firm in New York. You know, the baby lawyers there called me the Dragon Lady”, she chuckled softly.
I chuckled, too. We ordered dinner and our server took our menus.
“Anyway, I worked there as the head of legal assistants and mentor to new lawyers. At our first few regular meetings, they always tried to impress me with their positions. Very soon, they realized that I knew more than they did about the law and about the firm. Very soon, they realized that except for meetings with me, they would be doing nothing more for the first year at Davis Polk than carrying partners’ briefcases.”
I laughed at the image of Sylvia herding baby lawyers around Davis Polk.
“After ten years, I finally accepted that my husband did not want children. We divorced and I moved to Houston. At Davis Polk, I had worked with a big firm in Houston that always wanted me to head up their staff of legal assistants. The baby lawyers in Houston called me the Dragon Lady, too.”
Smiling, I shook my head slowly and commented, “I think that male lawyers do that when they feel threatened by a competent woman.”
“Anyway, on the plane to Houston, I sobbed like a baby. The man sitting next to me was Jim. He listened to me and bought me drinks. Usually, I did not drink so I felt rather tipsy when the flight ended.
Later, after I had been working at the law firm in Houston for a year, Jim called and offered me a job with his new company, Oil Partners.”
“Uh-hmmm”
“Tonight is the first time I have cried in public since that plane trip from New York. I feel much better now. Thanks, Elizabeth.”
Our dinners arrived and somehow I knew then that Sylvia would never again tell me so many stories about herself.
Writing Assignment for November 5, 2007
On Specifics and Character
Dragon Lady
- Sylvia, her regal profile would have graced a Roman coin with distinction
Houston, Texas - It was near the end of a week day in 1981. I was sitting at my desk, gazing out the window at the cityscape below, when the phone rang. It was my friend, Sylvia. Her voice, usually strong and mellifluous, was weak and wavering. I switched from a speaker phone to a conventional phone. “Elizabeth, Jim just put me on four weeks notice.”
Sylvia worked at Oil Partners, a small independent oil company in Houston that specialized in buying land leases. Her news was simply a sign of the times - the price of crude was $13 a barrel and business was slow, lines for unemployment checks were long. But she was undone and I had never before heard her so distressed.
What could I do?
The nicest restaurant closest to both of us was the Rainbow Lodge, a restaurant that Sylvia had recommended to me once. Since then, I had booked my favorite table there whenever I wanted quiet and elegant comfort.
“Sylvia, meet me at the Rainbow Lodge at 6:30, my treat”
At 6:30, the hostess ushered us to the table in a small windowed alcove overlooking the grounds. A stream cascaded down strategically placed rocks surrounded by plants and trees decorated with strings of colored lights. The interior looked like a great hunting lodge and massive beams hovered high above linen-draped tables. Usually, the clash of the riotous external décor with the high caliber of the service amused me to no end, but my attention was elsewhere this time.
Both Sylvia and I ordered bourbon on the rocks with a splash of water and a twist. After the server brought us our drinks, Sylvia began to talk.
“Jim was not only like a father to me, he was a good friend. He and Helen, his wife, had me over to their place for dinner many times. I guess I could have seen it coming. Times have been hard in the oil business and Jim’s company is small. He held off for as long as his partners let him. I have never seen him as upset as he was when he gave me notice today. He says I can use the company’s resources for as long as I need to find a new job.”
I nodded in empathy. As I studied the candle flame, I noted Sylvia’s hunched shoulders and wet eyes.
“I grew up in Brooklyn. All of my relatives lived nearby. If I fell and scraped my knee anywhere, I knew that relatives lived on that block and I could just go to their door for help … Back then, I wanted a store-bought dress more than anything. My mother made all of my clothes; such fine hand-stitching and finished inseams and hems. When I was thirteen, I was allowed to buy dresses off the rack and I was amazed at how poorly they were made; such sloppy workmanship … I got married when I was seventeen. I had just graduated from high school. Even though my parents had married at the same age, both of them wanted me to wait until I finished college. So, I promised to get my college degree … My husband was very successful and my parents adored him. Daddy started to carve a cradle for his first grandchild.
“After I graduated from Barnard, I worked at Davis Polk in Manhattan …”
“Sorry Sylvia, I know I should know but I don't. What kind of a firm is Davis Polk?”
“…Oh – the biggest law firm in New York. You know, the baby lawyers there called me the Dragon Lady”, she chuckled softly.
I chuckled, too. We ordered dinner and our server took our menus.
“Anyway, I worked there as the head of legal assistants and mentor to new lawyers. At our first few regular meetings, they always tried to impress me with their positions. Very soon, they realized that I knew more than they did about the law and about the firm. Very soon, they realized that except for meetings with me, they would be doing nothing more for the first year at Davis Polk than carrying partners’ briefcases.”
I laughed at the image of Sylvia herding baby lawyers around Davis Polk.
“After ten years, I finally accepted that my husband did not want children. We divorced and I moved to Houston. At Davis Polk, I had worked with a big firm in Houston that always wanted me to head up their staff of legal assistants. The baby lawyers in Houston called me the Dragon Lady, too.”
Smiling, I shook my head slowly and commented, “I think that male lawyers do that when they feel threatened by a competent woman.”
“Anyway, on the plane to Houston, I sobbed like a baby. The man sitting next to me was Jim. He listened to me and bought me drinks. Usually, I did not drink so I felt rather tipsy when the flight ended.
Later, after I had been working at the law firm in Houston for a year, Jim called and offered me a job with his new company, Oil Partners.”
“Uh-hmmm”
“Tonight is the first time I have cried in public since that plane trip from New York. I feel much better now. Thanks, Elizabeth.”
Our dinners arrived and somehow I knew then that Sylvia would never again tell me so many stories about herself.
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