Carmella Commands
“No wonder,” said her mother. “You ate no breakfast.”
“I had better than that,” said the girl.
Her mother eyed her doubtfully, and said:
“You must eat quickly, or you’ll be late for afternoon school.”
“I’m not going to school this afternoon. I’m going to celebrate.”
“Have you finished your father’s need of you?”
“For today, yes!”
“Then you shall go to school.”
“I shall not!” declared Carmella in English.
Then for minutes it happened that mother and daughter scolded each other, each talking a different language. Carmella’s advantage lay in the fact that she could understand her mother’s Italian, whereas Maria understood only scattered words of Carmella’s fast English.
But she understood the tone. It is a thing that happens every day in some home of foreign-born parents and native-bred children. It is a tragedy that the world has not yet listed as such. Yet it is more poignant than any other.
Carmella spent the afternoon in a picture house with Nicolo.
[195]
