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decided years ago, had the space and time to take in the birthday girl and since Zilda was in the kitchen with the maid putting the finishing touches on the croquettes and sandwiches, that left: the stuck-up daughter-in-law from Olaria with her anxious-hearted children by her side; the daughter-in-law from Ipanema in the opposite row of chairs pretending to deal with the baby to avoid facing her sister-in-law from Olaria; the idle, uniformed nanny, her mouth hanging open. And at the head of the large table the birthday girl who was turning eighty-nine today. Zilda, the lady of the house, had set the table early, covered it with colorful paper napkins and birthday-themed paper cups, scattered balloons drifting along the ceiling on some of which was written Happy Birthday! on others Feliz Aniversario!. At the center she’d placed the enormous frosted cake. To move things along, she’d decorated the table right after lunch, pushed the chairs against the wall, sent the boys out to play at the neighbor’s so they wouldn’t mess up the table. And, to move things along, she’d dressed the birthday girl right after lunch. Since then she’d fastened that pendant around her neck and pinned on her brooch, sprayed her with a little perfume to cover that musty smell of hers seated her at the table. And since two o’clock the birthday girl had been sitting at the head of the long empty table, rigid in the silent room. Occasionally aware of the colorful napkins. Looking curiously when a passing car made the odd balloon tremble. And occasionally that mute anguish: whenever she watched, fascinated and powerless, the buzzing of a fly around the cake. Until four o’clock when the daughter-in-law from Olaria arrived followed by the one from Ipanema. Just when the daughter-in-law from Ipanema thought she couldn’t bear another second of being seated directly across from her sister-in-law from Olaria who brimming with past offenses saw no reason to stop glaring defiantly at the daughter-in-law from Ipanema at last Jose and his family arrived. And as soon as they all kissed the room started filling with people greeting each other loudly as if they’d all been waiting down be- low for the right moment to, in the rush of being late,stride up the three flights of stairs, talking, dragging along startled children, crowding into the room 61 Register Magazine
and kicking off the party. The birthday girl’s facial muscles no longer expressed her, so no one could tell whether she was in a good mood. Placed at the head was what she was. She amounted to a large, thin, powerless and dark-haired old woman. She looked hollow. ‘Eighty-nine years old, yes sir!’ said Jose, the eldest now that Jonga had died. ‘Eighty-nine years old, yes ma’am!’ he said rubbing his hands in public admiration and as an imperceptible signal to everyone. Everyone broke off attentively and looked over at the birthday girl in a more official manner. Some shook their heads in awe as if she’d set a record. Each year conquered by the birthday girl was a vague step forward for the whole family. Yes sir! A few said smiling shyly. ‘Eighty-nine years old!’ echoed Manoel, who was Jose’s business partner. Just a little bean sprout! he said joking and nervous, and everyone laughed except his wife. The old woman showed no expression. Some hadn’t brought her a present. Others brought a soap dish, a cotton slip, a costume jewelry brooch, a little potted cactus nothing, nothing that the lady of the house could use for herself or her children, nothing that the birthday girl herself could really use and thereby save money for the lady of the house: she put away the presents, bitter, sarcastic. ‘Eighty-nine years old!’ repeated Manoel nervously, looking at his wife. The old woman showed no expression. And so, as if everyone had received the <strong>final</strong> proof that there was no point making any effort, with a shrug as if they were with a deaf woman, they kept the party going by themselves, eating the first ham sandwiches more as a show of enthusiasm than out of hunger, making as if they were all starving to death. The punch was served, Zilda was sweating, not a single sister- in-law was really helping, the hot grease from the croquettes gave off the smell of a picnic; and with their backs turned to the birthday girl, who couldn’t eat fried food, they laughed nervously. And Cordelia? Cordelia, the youngest daughter-in-law, seated, smiling. ‘No sir!’ Jose replied with mock severity, ‘no shop talk today!’ Right, right! Manoel quickly backed down, darting a look at his wife whose ears pricked up from a distance. ‘No shop talk,’ Jose boomed, today is for Mother! At the head of the already messy table, the cups dirtied, only the cake intact she was the mother. The birthday girl blinked. And by the time the table was filthy, the mothers irritated at the racket their children were making, while the grandmothers were leaning back complacently in their chairs, that was when they turned off the useless hallway light so as to light the candle on the cake, a big candle with a small piece of paper stuck to it on which was written 89. But no one praised Zilda’s idea, and she wondered anxiously if they thought she was trying to save candles nobody recalling that nobody had contributed so much as a box of matches for the party food that she, Zilda, was serving like a slave, her feet exhausted and her heart in revolt. Then they lit the candle. And then Jose, the leader, sang with great gusto, galvanizing the most hesitant or surprised ones with an authoritarian stare, come on! All together now! And they all suddenly joined in singing loud as soldiers. Roused by the voices, Cordelia looked on 62
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Our Stories Make Us February 18' Vo
Page 3 and 4:
Inside Front Cover 2
Page 5 and 6:
Contents: Letter from the Editor By
Page 7 and 8:
The inspiration for this issue of R
Page 9 and 10:
In 1938, Gertrude Stein published T
Page 11: dents look at intensifiers in Chauc
Page 14 and 15: None of this, presumably, is a sour
Page 16 and 17: At the risk of making a dozen devot
Page 19 and 20: intimacy of the first person, the e
Page 21 and 22: We can, in seconds, compile long li
Page 23 and 24: And yet since literature has its si
Page 25 and 26: nonexistent plot, and, worst of all
Page 27 and 28: hardly matters, since in its extrem
Page 29 and 30: By: Joanna Walsh Joanna Walsh is th
Page 31 and 32: Books Challenging the Gender Binary
Page 33 and 34: By: Laura Jane Faulds 32
Page 35 and 36: self-indulgently, two if you count
Page 37 and 38: Mmmm? I talked to Keith Richards on
Page 39 and 40: are supposed to be the knuckles and
Page 41 and 42: This was the solution to why she’
Page 43 and 44: Interviewed by: Sandro & Sandra Fer
Page 45 and 46: into words the truth of a gesture,
Page 47 and 48: er. It diminished, then it vanished
Page 49 and 50: The Lost Daughter, I pushed the pro
Page 51: media simply can’t discuss a work
Page 54 and 55: figure of Nina, the young mother wh
Page 56 and 57: Interviewer: What does it mean when
Page 58 and 59: thought I would ever write anything
Page 60 and 61: 59 Register Magazine
Page 64 and 65: Soon enough the slices were divided
Page 66 and 67: Lately she’s been spitting, she e
Page 68 and 69: How he missed Jonga at times like t
Page 70 and 71: By: Alice Driver
Page 72 and 73: And when they asked us where we wer
Page 74 and 75: cially since people didn’t talk a
Page 76 and 77: Mary Gaitskill, Bad Behavior The fe
Page 78 and 79: Mahasweta Devi “Please don’t wr
Page 80 and 81: The Horror of Female Adolescence an
Page 82 and 83: sexual drive is reduced to somethin
Page 84 and 85: Favorite Authors & Favorite Books:
Page 86 and 87: Doris Lessing Sandra Cisneros The O
Page 88 and 89: Women in Love? - It’s frustrating
Page 90 and 91: to the most recent Pew Report. That
Page 92: Editor—Elizabeth Pike Managing Ed
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Page 97 and 98: 96
Page 99 and 100: 98
Page 101 and 102: 100
Page 103 and 104: Inside Front Cover 102
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