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New York's Opera Society chapter 10

by Gianni Truvianni

 

Chapter 10

Dinner with My Parents

 

As all these thoughts were racing through my head when l heard my mom shout out soups on. l went to the dinning room to have dinner like it was a habit in our family. We, the whole family, had dinner together everyday when ever time permitted of coarse. What l meant by the whole family was my mom and dad, my sister Violetta (named after the main character in the opera "La Traviata") and sometimes however very rarely we were joined by my older brother Ralf and his wife Stephanie and their children John (3 years old) and Elizabeth (6 months old). Ralf was 5 years older then myself and 8 years older then our sister.

However on this occasion the number of the people who would be sitting at the table would be limited to just 4. l as was my habit was the last one to take my seat at the table which was always next to my sister Violetta. My father always sat at the head of the table and was flanked by my mother on his left and my sister and myself on his right. Our evening meal always started with my mother saying grace, she always maintained that if we could not go to church together on Sundays as a proper Lutheran family should then the least we could do was to say grace before dinner. Our dinning room was not a very big. It was just large enough to fit a large dinning table which could sit up to 10 people comfortably, and there was also enough room for a small but elegant cupboard where my mom kept all the silverware and what she called "the good China" which was for guest only as my mother was afraid of it breaking. To my way of seeing things this room always seemed a bite cramped as every time we had meals there, it seemed that we were tripping over each other to get in or out from our respective seats but to my mom and dad said it was just right as they liked that felling of closeness one gets in rooms with limited space.

My sister Violetta, or Vi as she was best known to all her friends was younger then me by 3 years. She was a girl who me being her brother was difficult to say if she was attractive or not, what l could say about her was that she was very tall at 5’10” tall (180cm) and weighed only 70 kilos. Her face was what l would say was a combination of our father and mother. She had our fathers chin and clear blue eyes and as far as l could tell the rest of her was taken directly from our mother including the color of her waist length hair which for some reason she liked dying red. She was a professional tennis player who had been playing on the professional tennis circuit since she turned pro at the age of 14.She had never won any grand slams though she had won a number of smaller tournaments, one them being the German open which really pleased my parents for apparent reasons, she had even reached the final of the U.S. open only to loose badly to one of the Williams sisters, l don’t remember which one and on another occasion she had gotten to the semi-finals at Wimbledon were again she crashed out to one of the Williams sisters.

After saying grace we all sat down at the table. "Have you ever heard of an opera called "Halka"?" was my opening question to my mother. My mom being the opera expert she was of coarse knew what opera l was referring to and simply replied by saying "yes, l have heard of this opera it is a polish opera by Moniuszki, but why do you ask, who told you about this opera, are you studying at school but that would be strange if they were teaching you polish opera at school. This is one of the few things about my mom that kind of ticked me off, she had this annoying habit of asking somebody questions which she herself answered for that person almost as if she were saying why am l asking you when you probably don’t know the answer and you need me to tell it to you. "l met a Polish girl whose name is Gosia and she told me about this opera and she also told me that a company from her country was coming to "Carnegie Hall" to perform this opera, so l went out and purchased 2 tickets for Gosia and myself to go see it "l tried to say this in a very calm tone of voice in order to not let my emotions give away my intentions to soon, and l think l managed to do this as nobody posed any questions about Gosia. My mother as is her typical style started asking about what was happening or what might be happening that she was not aware of. She took some mashed potatoes and served herself and then passed it on to my sister who was visible tired as she had played a tennis match at the U.S. open which she had probably won as my sister made it a point of letting everyone in the house know when ever she lost a match, and then after a short pause said in a inquisitive voice "l am glad you will be seeing a new opera to tell you the truth l myself have neither seen nor have I heard this opera, I only know it is polish because the composer was polish and l know something about the libretto, but what l am interested is who is this girl, what did you say her name was?"

At this point in our conversation, l noticed that all eyes at the table had turned over to me as l slowly uttered "she is a girl who l met at a near by polish restaurant, she works as a waitress and she is going to start attending “Julliard School of Music" pretty soon".

l could tell by mother's expression and the ums l got from the small audience that my news had come as a bite of a surprise to everyone present. l could also see that that my mother was trying to ask a question but l could also see that none were coming to mind at least no specific ones. l was preparing myself to answer the first question which l was sure would be the first of a series of questions that would be asked by my mother and as l was getting mentally ready for my mom's first question, my dad all of a sudden said gazing at my mother in a mocking tone "Getty, are you going to invite this polish lady to our house for a get acquainted dinner like you have invited all of Bill’s other prospective wives?". My dad's question as well as remark not only brought levity into the conversation but also provoked some laughter from everyone at the table except my mom of coarse who one could tell by the look on her face that she felt slightly indignant at the suggestion that she was one to pry or to play match maker.

After the roar of the laughter died down, my mom in a very dignified tone of voice said "l only invite these ladies as l only wish to know like any woman who strives to be a good mother (and l knew what was coming) what kind of people our son is associating with".

Now it was Vi's turn to get into the act as she asked "are you just going out with this girl because you want to go see this opera or is it because you want to see her or is the reason for your dating this Polish girl a combination of the two". As she said this mom looked at her with a smile of approval as if she wanted to say thank you to Vi for having asked the question that mom was trying to think of asking me and then she turned her head toward me and told me with her eyes "o.k. lets have it".

Now more then ever everyone seemed to be hanging on my every word, so l took my time to consider my response very carefully and said "it is as you have put it a combination of the two

l want to see her but l am also curios to see a Polish opera as before l met her l did not even know that the Polish had any operas of their own..

l think my mom was about to say something but she was prevented from doing so by my father's voice crying out "tell us more, and l don’t mean about this Polish opera but about this Polish young girl you intend to see", "first is she really Polish, Polish or just Polish American as in born in this country of Polish descent? l in a soft tone of voice using some of things l had learnt from singing said "no she is Polish Polish as in born in Warsaw, Poland and living in America now trying to study the piano, she says her favorite composer is" "let me take a wild guess, Chopin" my mother interjected finally as if she had been awoken to the conversation by what l had tried to say. "Yes, that is correct and her dream is to make Chopin's music more popular then it has ever been in the same way Ann Sophie Mutter is doing for Beethoven's music".

l could see that Vi's attention was fully dedicated to this on going conversation as she suddenly blurted out "how long have you known this girl, no l just ask because you already seem to know a whole lot about her even her dreams, so will this be your first date or have you gone out with her already?". "l met her on Sunday when l went in to the restaurant where she was working in for a bite to eat before going off to see "Twilight of Gods" and l saw her again today when l stopped by her restaurant to give her, her ticket to see "Halka" and the reason l know so much about her is because she has already sent me 3 very long emails telling me everything, not only about herself but about her hometown and her family as well."

My mother after careful consideration asked "do you want me to invite her? "to which l replied whole heartedly "please by all means" .

Now it was my sister's who was going to tell us about her day and l thought it best not to ask my parents to do any favors for Gosia until they had at least met her.

My sister as usual started her description of her day by saying in a semi sarcastic tone of voice which she knew would irk both mom and dad, "doesn't anybody give a hoot about my day if l am still in the U.S. open or not". She paused just long enough for all our heads to turn in her direction and for me to finish serving my self some more meatloaf and said "well l can say that after 2 not so difficult sets against an Argentine qualifier l am still in the hunt for an appearance in this years super Saturday" "Does anybody what to join me in watching my match on T.V.?"

This question was met with mixed emotions as we wanted to see her match but on the other hand we knew it was only the opening round and that she had won easily apart from the rest of us having our own things to do so non of us actually ended up watching her match, something she accepted gracefully as she knew that it was more important for her to watch this match in order to check for errors which she would have to improve upon for her next match then it was for us. After dinner my sister got to watching her tennis match, my mother went about getting ready for her lessons at school and my dad went about his evening habit of reading the newspaper and doing some paperwork for the office.

 

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