The Immigrant’s Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page B

Freddie,” Sam said. “We’ll take you back to the city tomorrow, Mother. Unless you want to stay here?”
    â€œNo, I’ll go back with you.”
    They went off into the night, their figures becoming more and more shadowy and then engulfed by the darkness. There was a system of floodlights all through the winery, but there was no night shift working, and the velvet darkness, punctured by a lit window here and there in the houses, spread over most of the place.
    Barbara heard the cough of a car starting, and then yellow headlights swept out of the winery’s big parking place. She followed the progress of the car down the winery’s driveway onto the main road. Then she went back into the house to bed.
    In the car, driving south toward Napa, May Ling said suddenly, “I don’t want to go to Vince’s Place. I want to talk. You can’t talk with that rock blaring at you. You don’t even hear yourself think.”
    â€œYou can listen,” Freddie said.
    â€œI don’t want to listen. I want to talk. I want to talk about that whole little act you put on with Aunt Barbara.”
    â€œAct! What in hell are you talking about?”
    â€œYou know exactly what I’m talking about. That great big flirtation scene you just put on with Aunt Barbara. It’s just so charming. Do you really think it makes her feel good or gives you points to tell her she’s the most beautiful woman in the party? She’s old enough to be your grandmother.”
    â€œOh, come on, come on,” Sam said, pulling the car over onto the shoulder of the road. “This is the damn dumbest subject for a fight that I ever heard of. You’re talking like Freddie was born yesterday, or as if you met him last week. He’s constitutionally unable to avoid coming on to every woman he faces. I’ve seen him do the same thing with his own mother. It’s not his fault. It’s just a lovely aberration.”
    â€œOh, great!” Freddie yelled. “Just great!”
    â€œI’m not putting you down. I wish I were that way.”
    â€œYou don’t fight about the things you fight about,” Carla said.
    â€œThe voice of wisdom.”
    â€œShe’s right,” May Ling said. “We’re coming apart at the seams, and it gets worse.”
    â€œWe’ve been coming apart at the seams since the day we got married,” Carla said. “We need a new marriage ceremony — love and cherish for at least three weeks.”
    â€œThat doesn’t help,” Sam said.
    â€œNothing helps, but don’t make me the bad guy. She wants a divorce,” Freddie said.
    â€œWhat!” Carla had never thought in terms of divorce. You fought, you screamed, you ripped each other’s flesh, and then you fell into bed and made love and wept and made love again, and it was just about as great as it could be. You didn’t talk about divorce.
    â€œThis is insane and unreal,” Sam said. “You’re going to tell me that May Ling wants a divorce?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œIs there a reason?” Sam asked. “Aside from the fact that maybe you hate each other.”
    â€œI don’t hate him, I love him.”
    â€œYou hate her?”
    â€œDon’t be a fucken idiot, Sam.”
    â€œThen why?”
    â€œYou know why,” May Ling said. “We’re first cousins. You saw my baby, Sam. I’ll never go through that again. He wants children — then let him find someone else. I’ll never have a child again. I won’t bring monsters into this world.”
    â€œYour baby was an encephalitic. Such babies die in a few hours or a few days. It was not a monster. There are no monsters. It was a poor sick child, and it happened because you were a statistic. I told you that. It has nothing to do with genetics — absolutely nothing — and furthermore, you and Freddie are not first cousins. For you to be