Family Memiors
...er mother was going to stop.Planning to do just one at a time, Yvonne gingerly picked the first doomed shade off the tray and spirited it off to the executioner’s sink, mother trailing her all the way. She tenderly washed and rinsed the precious glass, then proceeded to dry it, unaware of the rapid-fire succession of disasters soon to strike. As her hand moved round and round, she looked triumphantly at Mother. Her look of triumph altered itself drastically, as she felt the tight neck of the shade she was drying suddenly loosen. Not daring to look down, she glanced at her mother’s face. Mom’s eyes grew larger and larger; her mouth formed a small ‘o’ as she gazed at the scene before her in utter disbelief. Still not wanting to look, Yvonne carefully set down the pieces and turned to make a hasty retreat. As she turned to do so, her elbow made contact with the second doomed piece that Mom had brought to the sink. The shade fell with a mighty crash, and scattered into every conceivably empty space of floor below. Yvonne couldn’t believe Mom was taking it so hard. As Mom stood in the center of the glittering sand that once was her precious, above-all-else shade, Yvonne carefully picked her way past, and headed for the nearest chair to think of an effective way to word her sincere regrets. As her backside was arriving at its destination, she crunchingly realized that something might be amiss. She tingled at the thought that the nightmare was not yet over. Instead of getting up to view the third disaster, she instead desired to hide it from view. She finished what she...