A Catered Affair Read Online Free PDF

point. That night, my relationship with my sister began to change. As we talked, I started to acknowledge how hard it had been for her, living with a pushy stage mother. Of course, Mum would have had a fit if she’d heard herself described as “pushy” and “a stage mother.”
    “Pushy? Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, come on, Scar, do your Celine Dion . . . ‘ The first time ever I saw your face . . .’”
    It took her a couple of days before she could pluck up the courage to come out to Mum. Afterwards, she reported back to me. “I don’t know why I was so worried. She was great. She hugged me, told me how much she loved me and how proud of me she was and that as far as she was concerned, my sexuality was neither here nor there.”
    But it was too good to be true. That evening, while Mum was preparing dinner, we heard her on the phone to Aunty Brenda. She’d put Brenda on speakerphone, presumably so that she could carry on peeling potatoes.
    “Bren, you will never believe it . . . I’ve got one.” I hadn’t heard Mum this excited since she wangled an invite to one of Sting’s rain-forest fund-raisers.
    “One what?” we heard Aunty Brenda say.
    “A lesbian.”
    “My word. How exotic. So what are you feeding it?” Scarlett and I corpsed. Aunty Brenda wasn’t remotely homophobic. She simply “got” my mother and enjoyed teasing her.
    “Very funny. I’m trying to tell you that Scarlett’s just come out as gay.”
    “Good for her. Tell her Aunty Brenda says mazel tov.”
    “Isn’t it wonderful? I’m the mother of a lesbian. I can’t believe it. It’s just so . . . cool.”
    “Shelley.”
    “What?”
    “Do me a favor. Please don’t hold a street party to celebrate. You’re in your fifth decade. Perhaps the time has come to stop trying to scandalize the neighbors.”
    “Who said anything about scandalizing the neighbors?”
    “Come on, it’s your hobby. Scarlett’s coming out is about her, not you. Being a gay woman might be trendy in certain circles, but she’s going to come up against prejudice and bigotry and you need to be there for her.”
    “I know that, Bren. I’m not a complete fool. Can you imagine me not being there for her?”
    Scarlett and I never doubted Mum’s sincerity, but there was no getting away from it—our mother was high on pride . Pretty soon she was bandying about “insider” words like femmie and butchie and had bought an I HEART MY GAY DAUGHTER shopper and k.d. lang’s Greatest Hits album.
    Mum had been overjoyed when Scarlett came out, but a year or so ago when she discovered that Scarlett was dating Grace, who wasn’t just a successful newspaper and magazine photographer but also black, she was positively euphoric. It was as if all her Christmases had come at once. A few months later, when Scarlett and Grace moved in together, Mum confided in me that she fantasized about them having babies and her being a grandmother to mixed-race children. “And of course we’d invite all of Grace’s family to stay for the holidays.” It was clear she was imagining pans of jerk chicken simmering on the stove and Grace’s parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters gathered around the tree, boogying to a reggae version of “O Holy Night.”
     
     
    A few days after I’d told her that Josh and I were getting married, I was back at Mum’s for Friday-night dinner. She’d invited me over because there was something she wanted to tell me. “Look, I don’t have a lot of money, but I made sure I put a bit away from your dad’s life insurance to pay for weddings for you and Scarlett. There’s enough to give you a nice party. I know it’s what your father would have wanted.”
    “Mum, are you absolutely sure? Josh and I were planning on getting a bank loan.”
    “Stop it. I’m not having you start your married life in debt. Now, I don’t want to hear another word.”
    I got up and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Mum.”
    “My pleasure. So, come