Uphill Walkers by Madeleine Blais

Author:Madeleine Blais
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2001-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

To the Blais family, the Kennedy White House was proof that we had arrived. If, as it so often seemed in our world, the highest status accrued to families with a priest in their ranks, because then you had your own special pipeline to the divine, having an Irish Catholic in the White House had the same feeling of privilege and intimacy. The whole nation had been shrunk to something smaller and more manageable, to parish. One of ours was at the helm.

We followed the entire presidency, of course, but we were most enamored of Jacqueline Kennedy’s televised tour of the White House. She had grace and class; what’s more, she wasn’t afraid to express her opinions, telling the audience: “When General Grant became President Grant, he put false, elaborate timbers across the ceiling and furnished the room in a style crossing ancient Greece with what someone called ‘Mississippi River Boat.’” In that famously breathy voice she praised Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Washington but also complained, “So many pictures of later presidents are by really inferior artists…. I just think everything in the White House should be the best.” Of course, we concurred.

At home, we played a game based on the Kennedy women. Our mother wanted to know which one she most closely resembled.

We were honest.

“Not Joan,” we said. Too young and too fluffy.

She seemed to agree.

“Not Ethel, either.” Ethel was too toothy and too tennis, anyone?

Again, no argument.

We paused when we came to President Kennedy’s wife.

Maureen Shea Blais looked up, hope flashing.

We knew we would hurt our mother’s feelings, but we all need to face facts. “Not Jackie, either.” No, not Jackie with her perfect hair, perfect pearls, and perfect life.

There was one right answer: “Rose,” we said with a flourish, yes, yes, yes, Rose, with her hats and her head held high, her daily mass and her constant campaign teas for her baby, Ted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.