The Awkward Age by Francesca Segal

Author:Francesca Segal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-04-27T10:11:16+00:00

26.

“Well obviously she’ll have to get rid of it,” said Iris equably, just as Julia had known she would. She waited for the rest of the address while her mother-in-law clicked sweetener tablets into her teacup. Julia felt almost giddy with relief to be in Iris’s living room, awaiting judgment and a brisk shot of fortitude. In her mother-in-law’s presence there was nothing that did not seem obvious or manageable. It was healing to be spoken to in the imperative.

Philip had been the one to tell Iris the news, and had therefore taken the unrestrained brunt of her wrath and disappointment. It was with Philip that Iris had also wept, once, briefly and in silence. Nonetheless, Iris did not understand the extended lamentations. She saw merely an unpleasant, regrettable expedient they would all hasten to forget once it was over. A young woman’s future hung in the balance. On one side an education, choice, independence. On the other Iris saw the scale loaded with all the heavy, dark weight of the past. Biology as destiny: it no longer had to be. If that maddening child had any grasp of her generation’s privilege, she might have been more respectful of the sovereign miracle of contraception. She ought, Iris thought furiously, to have cherished it. Worshipped it. The Pill was golden liberty, deliverance from both the baby and the scalpel, and this needless mess was due entirely to Gwendolen’s own stupidity and ingratitude. Never mind. It was not too late.

“She’s got herself into a horribly foolish situation but all that matters now is that she be forbidden from doing something far stupider. If you don’t like the place that Thing’s pal found, then that ex-wife of his will know the right women’s clinic, surely. God’s teeth, what I wouldn’t give for a cigarette right now.” Iris took a prim sip of tea. “If that girl undoes my Allen Carr, she’ll really learn what trouble looks like.”

Julia had not moved to speak, and so Iris continued, “Look. Mistakes happen. This is truly one of Gwendolen’s more spectacular balls-ups, I will give you that, but it can’t possibly be allowed to dictate the rest of her life. You are her mother—no more fluffy Fabian philosophies and all that utter guff you thought would be so healing. Trust the child. I’ve always known it was a nonsense but I now see in serious circumstances it’s positively dangerous. We’ve watched and we’ve said nothing till now, but really, Julia, there must be limits. Teenagers have no impulse control, it’s a neurological fact. What on earth does she know about anything? It’s not at all the same as letting her choose her own bedtime or have marshmallows for dinner. You must save her from herself now, and you simply cannot allow this madness to proceed.” Iris gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Julia? God help us, you’re not suffering a sudden bout of Catholicism?”

Julia came to life. “No! How can you even— No, of course not, you know

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