Selena and Mamie

Selena guessed she was glad Mamie could help. She had to be if she and Red wanted to buy that little house outside the city. So Selena left her girls every morning to work at the Welfare office down Pico on the number 16. She walked the blocks to the bus stop in her suit and heels and clear red lipstick early, leaving Mollie, and the baby asleep in the in the big warm house on twelfth street. Mamie, herself, was the problem in Selena's eyes. Red was her only child now. Theresa had died of pneumonia at three, and Clarence had killed Joe because he had been drinking again. Of course, Clarence had hardly been sober himself when he enforced Doctor's orders with his fist to his son's delicate chest.
Clarence was buried next to Joe in old Holy Cross. Red had never been favorite, but he was all she had, and Mamie would be damned if she'd just hand her first grandchild over to that Mormon tart. So Selena ran to the bus every morning after she poured Red's coffee, and Mamie watched the little girls, teaching Mollie to dance with her big, dramatic scarves while she practised piano every morning for one hour- not one minute less- but they could go on playing if they wanted to, Mollie and Mamie. Mamie played Parade of the Tin Soldiers and A Bicycle Built for Two, Old Black Joe, Daisy, Daisy.. At Christmas, she played Santa Claus is Coming to Town from the sheet music with the pictures of dolls, drums, and tin soldiers on the cover. During practice, Mamie played endless scales, simple Do, Re, Mi first to warm up her hands, then incredibly complex runs from the sheet music with the brown cover.

Mamie took Mollie by the hand to the parlor, sat the little girl next to her on the piano bench, and opened the cover of the upright. Red had bought it for her with the first $40 he had left after the rent and groceries. Selena kept her fury to herself for the time being. Mollie showed her grandmother the little brass plate that marked middle Do. Mamie helped Mollie spread her small fingers to play Do, re, mi, fa, so. One finger for each note, precise, clear. Mamie showed Mollie how to hold her hands straight from the wrists, fingers bent at the knuckles, back straight. Then the woman would give the girl one of the scarves from before the Depression. They really did have lace curtains then, new cars, and white suits for the men.
Red drove the huge gray car with the running board to his job in production assurance at Sargeant's Engineering in Huntington Park where he inspected airplane parts. Red loved planes. He would tip his head back to look up at an airliner passing overhead and say what kind of plane it was and who made it when. He loved to go to the airport and watch the planes take off. He'd never taken one anywhere, including the War. He'd stayed in L A making sure the planes that went to Europe did not fall out of the sky. So he drove to the little industrial town every morning in his car after breakfast while Selena ran to the bus. Selena was very disciplined and knew how to survive which is more than anyone would say about Mamie. Of course they hated each other and fought over Red.
Selena always got up very early to make Red's oatmeal separate from whatever Mamie and the girls ate later. She made and poured his coffee and put in the cream and sugar just right. She squeezed his orange juice herself. Red was no savage; he wanted things done just so, and he had shown Selena how right away. While Red sat at Mamie's rosewood table, Selena put on her stylish skirt suit, rolled the front of her hair, put on her lipstick, gulped her own coffee and headed for the bus. She was already pregnant. They hoped for a boy this time. She would not see her children again until after dark. Then she had to see that Red had everything he needed before she could focus on straightening out her girls. Barbara cooked for Mamie, Mollie, and Jo. Only Selena ever cooked for Red, and only Selena ever ate with him. He was no savage who ate with children; also the kids had to eat what was good for them, liver and onions. Red ate what he wanted, prepared correctly.
Thank God for Barbara. Selena did not like having a maid, but Mamie was used to one, and Red gave her whatever she wanted. Mamie was spoiling the girls, though. The only person in that house who was not spoiled was Selena herself. She loved Red, but she wished she could raise her own girls. They needed to learn to keep house, cook, run the wringer washer, and heat the iron on the stove. This business with roller skates and Christmas trees was so much Irish indulgence. Red said she could quit working as soon as they had the little house. It was bitter, though, to lose her home to that spoiled, eccentric old hag. There were no concert pianists in Selena's family, and they had all worked hard all their lives. They worked as maids; they did not have them.