Coming Out (13 page)

Frieda left the door to the den open, and enjoyed watching the arrivals and departures. Olympia was bringing in kosher food for her, and Charlie helped her pick it up, and serve it to Frieda on separate dishes on trays. She had been extremely reasonable about not being quite as rigid about it as normal. She knew how complicated it was for Olympia to worry about that, too. And she was sure God would forgive her as long as she didn't eat cream sauces on her meat, or eat lobster or shrimp. Olympia was fastidious and mindful of what she served. And as predicted, Charlie was a godsend for her. He helped her with whatever he could.

On Thursday night, they celebrated Chanukah. Olympia lit the candles, as Frieda said the prayers with her. They exchanged gifts, as they would every night for eight days. Olympia was happy to have Frieda staying at the house with them. It made the whole family seem closer. And the religious holiday provided a sane distraction from the ball, at least for one night.

Ginny was excited that Steve was coming to town on Friday night, and Veronica continued to promise her mother that Jeff was totally suitable and wouldn't spike his hair. He wasn't due to arrive until Saturday morning, which seemed tight to Olympia, but he had something to do in Providence on Friday night, and Veronica said it was the best he could do. There was no point arguing with her. With the coming-out ball only days away, she was in a rotten mood.

It occurred to Olympia late Thursday night that although Veronica swore she had them, she had never seen her white satin evening shoes. She decided to check in her closet to make sure that they were in fact there. If not, she'd have to buy her a pair. Or Veronica was likely to do something crazy, like wear sneakers or red shoes. She let herself into the room as Veronica came out of the shower towel-drying her hair with her back to her mother. Olympia stopped in her tracks and stared at her in horror. Right in the center of her back was a giant tattoo. It was a huge multicolored butterfly with a wingspread the size of a dinner plate. Without even realizing it, Olympia screamed, and Veronica jumped about a foot, and wheeled around. She hadn't heard her mother come in.

“Oh my God!
What is that?
“ She knew perfectly well what it was. She just couldn't believe that Veronica had done that to herself. It was huge. Olympia burst into tears.

“Come on, Mom… please… I'm sorry…I was going to tell you about it… I've always wanted to do it…I love it… you'll get used to it….” Veronica looked panicked. The one thing her mother had always forbidden them was piercings or tattoos. She had let them pierce their ears, but anywhere else was taboo. And tattoos were beyond the pale.

“I can't believe you did that!” Olympia said, sitting on the edge of Veronica's bed. She was feeling faint. Her baby's body had been desecrated. She couldn't even imagine Veronica living with that for the rest of her life. It was obscene. She wanted her to have it removed, but she knew that if she suggested it, her daughter would refuse. “You look like you just got out of prison.”

“Everyone has them at school. I'm eighteen, Mom. I have a right to do what I want with my own body.”

“Do you have any idea what that looks like, or what it will look like when you're fifty? Are you nuts?” And then she looked utterly panicked. “Did Ginny get one, too?” Veronica looked embarrassed as she sat down on the bed next to her mother and put her arms around her.

“I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to upset you. I've wanted one for years.” Olympia knew that was true, but she thought she had convinced her otherwise. It never occurred to her that Veronica would defy her and get a tattoo the minute she went away to school.

“Why couldn't you get one on your bottom, where no one would see it? Do you have any idea how that looks?”

“Mom, I love it… honestly… it's me…”

And then Olympia had another thought. Veronica's debut dress was backless and plunged nearly to her waist. “We have to get you a new dress.”

“No, we don't,” Veronica said calmly. “I like the one I have.” It was the first time she had admitted that, but there was no way Olympia would let her wear that dress now and show off her tattoo. She'd die first.

“I'm not letting you come out at The Arches with that
thing
on your back.” Ginny walked into the room as she said it, looking for a can of hairspray, saw her mother's devastated expression, and then looked at her twin.

Veronica spoke first. “Mom knows.” Ginny looked uncomfortable to be caught between the two, and started to leave the room.

“You stay right here. If either of you ever gets another one, I'm killing you both. And that goes for Charlie, too.”

“He'd never do it,” Veronica reassured her. “He's too afraid to piss you off. So is Ginny.”

“What makes you so brave?” Olympia asked miserably, blowing her nose in a tissue. She felt as though someone had died, although she knew it was only a tattoo.

“I figured you'd forgive me,” Veronica said with a sheepish smile, and hugged her again, as her mother wiped her eyes.

“Don't be so sure. And we have to do something about the dress. I came in here to look for your shoes.” They had shared such a wonderful Chanukah only hours before, and now there was this, to spoil it all for her.

“I can't find my shoes,” Veronica admitted blithely. “I think I gave them away.”

“Great.” It was nothing now compared to what she had done to her body. “I'll get you a pair tomorrow.” She was taking the day off, as she always did on Friday. She had a million things to do. She still had to get a wheelchair for Frieda from a medical supply store. She had to pick Frieda's dress up at her apartment, and now get Veronica a pair of shoes. But all she could think of as she sat there was the butterfly tattoo. “How am I supposed to find you a dress in one day?”

“I'll wear a sweater over it,” Veronica volunteered as Olympia started to cry again. This was too much for her already frayed nerves. Frieda's accident, Max's chicken pox, Harry's stubbornness, the cold she had had all week, and now the horror of the tattoo.

“You can't wear a sweater over an evening dress. Maybe I can find you a white satin stole somewhere. If I can't, we're screwed.”

“Come on, Mom, no one's going to get upset about it.”

“The hell they're not, and I already am. You can at least indulge me, for chrissake,” Olympia said, heartbroken and furious all at the same time.

“I am,” Veronica reminded her. “I'm coming out, aren't I? You know I didn't want to. So give me a break.”

“I am. I just didn't know you'd break my heart in exchange. Was this your revenge for making you come out? The iron butterfly?”

“No, Mom,” Veronica said, looking unhappy. “I got it the first week of school, as a symbol of my independence and flying free. My metamorphosis into being an adult.”

“Wonderful. I guess I'm lucky you didn't put a caterpillar on there too, to show the before and after.” She stood up then and looked at both her daughters, and without another word, she left the room. She passed Harry on the stairs and didn't say a word to him. She went downstairs to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. He could see how upset she was, and thought it was still about him. It was after midnight, and Olympia was obviously severely overwrought.

Frieda saw her walk past her open door with her head down, and a few minutes later hobbled into the kitchen on her crutches. Olympia was sitting at the kitchen table, crying over her cup of tea. She was thinking about the backless dress and what they were going to do. More than that, she was thinking about Veronica's perfect young body, and how she had defaced it. It would never be the same.

“Uh-oh,” Frieda said, looking at her. She'd had a feeling something was wrong, which was why she had come in. It wasn't like Olympia not to stick her head in the door to see how she was. “What's wrong?” she asked, as she gingerly let herself down into a kitchen chair across the table from her daughter-in-law. “Nothing serious, I hope,” Frieda said, looking worried. She hoped Harry wasn't being difficult again. She knew he had added to Olympia's stresses all week by refusing to attend the ball with her. She had never before seen her daughter-in-law in tears, and it upset her severely. The evening had seemed perfect until then, and now the mood was shattered.

“I was going to stop by and say good-bye before I committed suicide, but I thought I'd have a cup of tea first.” She smiled at her mother-in-law through her tears.

“That bad? Who did this to you? I'll beat them up for you, just tell me who it is.” It was like having a mom again, and it touched Olympia to the core, as she reached out for Frieda's hand across the table. Veronica's tattoo had just been too much for her. It seemed silly, but she was devastated over it. It was such a stupid thing to do. And worse yet, it was permanent. Olympia was sure Veronica would regret it in years to come, but she'd have to live with it anyway. And it was complicated having it removed, even if she wanted to one day. “If Harry made you cry like this, I'll kill him,” Frieda said with a stern air as Olympia shook her head.

“Veronica,” she said, and then blew her nose. It was bright red from blowing it all week. At least the antibiotics had helped Ginny. She was much better by the time she got home. Olympia could hardly say the words as she looked across the table at her mother-in-law. “She got a tattoo.”

“A tattoo?” Frieda looked stunned. It hadn't even occurred to her. On a list of possible tragedies, it would have been last on her list. “Where?”

“In the middle of her back,” Olympia said miserably. “This big!” She framed her hands to indicate the size of it all too accurately.

“Oh dear,” Frieda said, digesting the information Olympia had shared with her. “That's not good. What a foolish thing to do. I know they're fashionable now, but she'll be sorry she did it one day.”

“She's thrilled with it,” Olympia said unhappily. “I have to get her a new dress tomorrow. She can't wear the one she has. I have to get her one now with a high back. Or a stole. I'm not sure what kind of miracle I can pull off in a day.” And she was still feeling sick.

Frieda looked thoughtful for a moment, and nodded. “Get me four yards of white satin tomorrow, good stuff, not the cheesy synthetics. I'll make a stole for her. She can wear it for the presentation at least. After that, well… after that it's up to her and you. Would she wear a stole?” Frieda looked as worried as Olympia, not only for the long term, but for the debut ball, which was only two days away.

“She'll wear a suit of armor now if I tell her to,” Olympia said quietly. “I don't know when she was planning to tell me about it, but I'd have had a heart attack if I'd seen it when she makes her bow.” Olympia shook her head and looked at her mother-in-law. The two women exchanged a smile across the table. “Kids. They sure keep life exciting, don't they?” Olympia laughed ruefully, and her mother-in-law patted her hand.

“It keeps you young. Believe me, once they stop surprising us, it's all over and you miss them like crazy. My life has never been the same since Harry went to college and left home.”

“At least he never got a tattoo.”

“No, but he got drunk with his friends and tried to enlist in the Marines at seventeen. Thank God they rejected him because he'd had asthma all his life. If they'd have taken him then, it would have killed me. His father almost killed him. All right, let's be practical. Tomorrow you have to get me four yards of white satin, and we'll make her a stole to cover the tattoo. It's easier than finding a new dress, and I can have it done in a few hours. I don't even need my sewing machine. I can do it by hand.”

“I love you, Frieda. I swear, I thought I was going to faint when I saw that thing on her back. She had just gotten out of the shower. I guess she's been hiding it for months.”

“It could be worse. It could be a skull and crossbones, or some boy's name she won't remember by next year. How's Ginny's romance, by the way? Is the boy still coming?”

“Tomorrow night apparently, and she says it's okay. Veronica doesn't like him, and she has pretty good judgment about men, better than Ginny. I hope he's a nice kid. She's all excited about his seeing her in her gown.”

“It's all so sweet,” Frieda said, looking starry-eyed, “and don't worry, we'll cover the tattoo. No one will know except us.” It was lovely having a mother-in-law who wanted to solve problems and not cause them. Olympia knew that was rare and appreciated her enormously. She was more like her own mother than Harry's.

Olympia told Harry about the tattoo when she went to bed, and he was as upset as she was. Defacing one's body was not only against his aesthetic principles, but also against his religion. He could just imagine how Olympia felt. She was still upset about it early the next morning when she went out to buy the white satin. Afterward, she went to Manolo Blahnik to buy the white satin shoes, and had the fabric in Frieda's hands by noon. It was exactly the same tone, brightness, and weight as the fabric in the dress. It was perfect. By four that afternoon, when Charlie and Olympia came back from picking up the wheelchair, Frieda had the exquisitely sewn handmade stole hanging pristinely on a hanger. It was all done, and when Veronica modeled it for them when she got home, it was exactly the right length, and she promised to wear it the following night. For the ball at least, problem solved. It was a load off Olympia's mind, if not her heart.

She, Harry, and his mother were planning a quiet dinner at home that night. Harry offered to cook. Max was still in bed, watching videos night and day. And the older three were going out. Olympia was looking forward to a peaceful evening. Frieda tried the wheelchair, and declared it comfortable and efficient. It was going to make her life much easier the following evening. They left it folded up in the hall, so the driver could put it in the limo. Margaret had agreed to come by and pick Frieda up, since Olympia would already be at the hotel with the girls.

They enjoyed a cozy dinner that night on the second night of Chanukah. Frieda lit the candles and said the traditional prayer. Olympia loved to hear her do it, and it reminded Harry of his childhood, although he loved it when Olympia did it, too.