The Third Child by Marge Piercy

Author:Marge Piercy
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780061760020
Publisher: HarperCollins

• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN •

Melissa wished she could pull some other friends out of Washington to parade before her parents. She thought of girls she had not seen since Miss Porter’s, at least two in the area. She called them both. The first number, she got an answering machine and no one ever called back. The second number, she reached Jessica herself. They arranged to meet Sunday noon at a coffee shop in Georgetown. Jessica sounded surprised but agreed at once—probably bored silly to be home with her parents. Melissa mentioned the meeting casually as if she had been seeing Jessica all summer.

“Jessica—who’s she?”

“You met her at Miss Porter’s.” To a contemporary she would have described Jessica as a plump blond with butch hair and a talent for drinking quarts of beer without getting visibly drunk. To Rosemary, she said, “She’s the daughter of a career bureaucrat in the Department of the Interior. Forestry stuff. Her mother is from Virginia and also claims to be a collateral descendant of Robert E. Lee. We talked about it when she was my friend at Miss Porter’s.”

“I remember. Your father checked it out, and the claim is legitimate. She’s a distant relative. That’s the sort of connection you should be pursuing. You didn’t mention seeing her this summer.”

“You didn’t ask. What does it matter? We have a good time together.”

“As well you should. That’s the type of person with whom you have something in common.”

“I have more in common with that guy you didn’t seem to care for. We go to the same school. We had class together. We know some of the same people.”

“Then perhaps you should meet different people this year.”

She had a better time with Jessica than she expected. Since they were in different universities, each seemed to feel she could be frank. Jessica was doing a lot of Ecstasy and in trouble at school, having fallen in love with a townie she’d met at a rave. He had a Harley and an ex-wife with a kid. She had added a lip stud to her previous collection. Melissa told her a few things about Blake, including his Honda. They agreed that parents just couldn’t understand and promised to get together over Thanksgiving, provided they both were in Washington.

When Melissa returned, a video crew was occupying the first floor and the backyard, making a promo for the NRA featuring Rosemary, who had been a poster child for them previously. The NRA contributed heavily to Dick’s campaigns, and he strongly backed the freedom to pack. Rosemary was speaking to the camera in a forceful yet coy way about the need for women to be able to protect themselves and their families.

When taping was finally over, two hours later, Alison came in and picked up the rifle and the revolver Rosemary had put down as soon as she was done with them, as if they might burn her hands. Rosemary might sing the praises of firearms, but she secretly hated them. She disliked even touching them.

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