The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

Author:Tiffany Tsao
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2020-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

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My sister began to worry about what she had gotten herself into. During the courtship and engagement, she had known Leonard’s mother as a pleasant woman with elegant manners and faultless taste. And Leonard had not provided any greater insight into her character, rarely speaking of her and giving almost no indication that he thought of her at all. Now that Estella had been welcomed into the family bosom, the full extent of her mother-in-law’s power disclosed itself.

It was owing to Tante Elise that the pale green breakfast china was laid out every morning at 7:30 and that every member of the household, upon being seated, could expect a small crystal glass of freshly squeezed orange juice at the top-right corner of their place setting. It was also owing to her that lunch and dinner, when taken at home, were served on the dishware specially reserved for those meals, and that all family members present in the house at four in the afternoon were approached by Rina or one of the lesser maids and asked if they would care for tea or coffee and a little snack. Under Tante Elise’s direction, the servants kept every room and its objects in immaculate order. If you moved a cushion from one armchair to another, ten minutes later the cushion would return itself to its original place. If you rearranged the coffee table books, or the candles, or the photos on the shelves, when you next entered the room, they too would be restored to their original places, with an extra luster to boot, as if they’d been wiped with a clean rag, which they probably had. There was even an order to be found in the bathrooms: pajamas and dressing gowns were refolded every morning and placed on the ottoman by the bathtub or shower, except every third day, when they were replaced with fresh ones; all towels were changed every second day; all toiletries left out on countertops were arranged on mirrored trays in order of height.

(“Frankly, I’m not surprised,” I said upon learning about the Angsonos’ enchanted self-rearranging house. “Your mother-in-law does act like she has an entire banyan tree up her ass.”)

My sister said the stifling orderliness extended even to the behavior of the family members themselves. Every weekday, Om Albert and Leonard, farewelled by their wives in the foyer, left for the office in their chauffeured black SUV at 9:30 a.m. Dinner was always served at 7:30 p.m. on the dot. The whole extended family gathered every Sunday at a restaurant in the Grand Hyatt for lunch. There were also guidelines for proper conduct and good living that were regarded as plain common sense: One dressed before coming down to breakfast. One showered before dinner. For good health, one ate a piece of fruit at least once a day. One always wore slippers in the house, but removed them before entering the bedrooms. There were thousands of other things, impossible to count, every convenience and comfort

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