The Sausage Maker's Daughters by A.G.S. Johnson

Author:A.G.S. Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, murder mystery, courtroom drama, feminism, siblings, 60s, fathers daughters, sibling rivalry, counterculture, murder trial, antiwar movement
Publisher: A.G.S. Johnson

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Phil broke the silence relating that escapade had induced in my cell, commenting, “So many causes, Kip.”

“And all worthy,” I exclaimed, my defensive retort surprising even me.

“Certainly, but ... what’s that about, do you suppose?”

“I have no idea what you mean, Phil.” I glared at her and William both. Right, so why did I sound so pissed off? “Oh all right, at the risk of sounding pathetically idealistic, I wanted to make a difference, leave the world better than I found it. I still do.”

“I admire that in you, Kip,” Phil added.

“But what?” I demanded.

“It just occurs to me, listening to you, that all your work for all those good causes may have filled some need in you, too.”

I had a hard time maintaining eye contact with Phil, and William, who was smoldering over something, was no easier. I glanced about, stammering, “I-I don’t ... I-I’m not—”

“It’s not a criticism,” Phil was quick to explain. “We’re all human, motivated by our needs. Life is just easier if we’re aware of them, that’s all. Surely the psychology major in you would agree?”

Phil’s humbling insinuations called to mind the oldest student in my assertiveness group back in Santa Monica at the Center for Women’s Liberation—Betty. Betty had told us how she’d finally stood her ground and demanded some time for herself away from her duties to husband and children. But when her enraged husband stomped out of the house, Betty had caved immediately and chased after him, begging him to come back and let her get supper on, supper evidently being a foolproof method for keeping a man.

“What should I have done?” Betty had asked me in the same defensive tone that had just escaped my mouth. “Let him leave me, me with three kids? Raise them on my own? He’d find someone in no time, but me?” she’d choked, “with three kids?”

My staunch belief in my standard response: What’s wrong with being on your own? stuck in my throat as it dawned on me that I knew nothing of husbands and children to support. How could I help Betty? I’d wondered. The first gray area in my tidy, independent, adult life had penetrated my assumptions.

An equally murky area now spread out before me. Why did I join so many causes? To belong, of course. To belong.

“‘Leave the world better than I found it.’” William mimicked me as if reading my thoughts. “What a load of ... of hooey.” He rose, along with his indignation. “You really believe your own rationalizations? This feminist ...” He thrashed about for a word. “ ... tirade of yours undermines the family unit upon which our entire social order depends. Good religious wives and mothers are being told by you, Kip Czermanski, to overthrow the taskmasters they married and—”

He had read my thoughts.

“Now, William,” Philomena interceded, “that’s an oversimplification of feminist—”

“You have no idea how insidious your message is,” William thundered over Phil, “how it seeps into women’s consciousness until they feel they must rebel, though they’re rebelling against the life they chose.

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.