"Robert A. Heinlein - To Sail Beyond the Sunset" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

to Maureen. As for the far more numerous and much more important truths, I
am pleased that Maureen wants to learn them. тАЮYe shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free.тАЬ John, eight, verse thirty two.тАЩ
Mother set her mouth in a grim line and did not answer. For her the Bible was
the final word... whereas Father was a freethinker, a fact he did not admit
even to me at that time. But Father knew the Bible more thoroughly than
Mother did and could always quote a verse to refute her - a most unfair way
to argue, it seems to me, but an advantage he needed in dealing with her.
Mother was strong-willed.
They disagreed on many things But they had rules that let them live together
without bloodshed. Not only live together but share a bed and have baby
after baby together. A miracle.
I think Father set most of the rules. At that time and place it was taken for
granted that a husband was head of his household and must be obeyed. You
may not believe this but the wedding ceremony in those days required the
bride to promise to obey her husband - in everything and forever.
If I know my mother (I donтАЩt, really), she didnтАЩt keep that promise more than
thirty minutes.
But they worked out practical compromises.
Mother bossed the household. FatherтАЩs domain was his clinic and surgery,
and the barn and outbuildings and matters pertaining thereto. Father
controlled all money matters. Each month he gave Mother a household
allowance that she spent as she saw fit. But he required her to keep a record
of how she spent it, bookkeeping that Father examined each month.
Breakfast was at seven, dinner at noon, supper at six; if FatherтАЩs medical
practice caused him to need to eat at other times, he notified mother - ahead
of time if possible. But the family sat down on time.
If Father was present, he held MotherтАЩs chair for her; she thanked him, he
then sat down and the rest of us followed. He said grace, morning, noon, and
night. In FatherтАЩs absence my brother Edward seated Mother and she said
grace. Or she might direct one of us to return thanks, for practice. Then we
ate, and misbehaviour at the table was only one notch below high treason.
But a child did not have to sit and squirm and wait for the grown-ups after he
was through eating; he could ask to be excused, then leave the table. He
could not return even if he discovered that he had made a horrible mistake
such as forgetting that it was a dessert night. (But Mother would relent and
allow that child to eat dessert in the kitchen... if he had not teased or whined.)
The day my eldest sister Audrey entered high school Father added to the
protocol: he held MotherтАЩs chair as usual. Once she was seated Mother said,
тАЪThank you, Doctor.тАЩ Then Edward, two years older than Audrey, held her
chair for her and seated her just after Mother was seated: Mother said, тАЪWhat
do you say, Audrey?тАЩ
тАЪI did say it, Mama:
тАЪYes, she did, Mother.тАЩ
тАЪI did not hear it.тАЩ
тАЪThank you, Eddie.тАЩ
тАЪYouтАЩre welcome, Aud.тАЩ
Then the rest of us sat down.
Thereafter, as each girl entered high school, the senior available boy was
conscripted into the ceremony.