17. Spotlight on Crepuscular Meadows: two very different mothers-in-law
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2020
17. Spotlight on Crepuscular Meadows: two very different mothers-in-law
What kind of parents would name their younger son Randolph Dandrich? Well, Jim's parents did just that. In school he was known as Randy Dandy, or Dandy Randy. I don't know which epithet hurt the most, but, like most children, Randy survived it. he grew up to marry Trudy Schoenberg, whose father was, as you might guess from the surname, German-American. Except that Trudy Schoenberg's father was German writ large. He pushed himself hard all his life. he ordered his wife Victoria around, which was a fair arrangement because she had spent her youth looking for someone to take orders from.
This was not abuse. She wanted to take orders, and she found a husband who liked to give them.
It's just that Victoria Schoenberg was misnamed on two counts: she was not commanding like the queen she was named after, and her married name was like that of a composer who set out to irritate people with his atonal music, just to get a rise out of them (the writer knows he is oversimplifying here, but this is done to make a point, which you will soon see). Getting a rise out of anyone was not Victoria Schoenberg's intention. She weighed upwards of 350 pounds, and liked to write religious poetry and hear funny stories. This was not an unhappy woman, though there were more than a few in town who thought she was more than a little bit unhinged. But did she ever hurt anybody? No!
The most she would do was to call the mother of her son-in-law --Minny Dandrich -- for advice when company dropped in unexpected an she was unsure which china to putn out for them.
Now, Minny Dandrich was not a well-to-do woman. If she had even *one* china pattern, she was lucky. Her one advantage was that she was smart, and had worked in a number of shops before she married. One such shop was Grandville's Department Store, an had had a particularly good grasp of the store's inventory. Yes, Grandville sold ma y china patterns, and Minny had arranged a lot of them for store displays. She couldn't afford to own any of the more expensive patterns, of course, but all Victoria had to do was describe the kind of company she as expecting, and Minny would advise her to put out the Blue Willow pattern. Victoria called with the same question six or seven times, and she never got wise to th fact that Minny's answer was always the same.
Maybe it had something to do with a television show that was popular in the 1960's. There was a character named Aunt Bea, who adored Blue Willow. It seemed to suit every taste. You literfally could not go wrong by using it.
After Mr. Schoenberg died, Victoria seemed to call Minny more and more often. This could get exasperating, as Minny had no idea what to do about the neighbors' dogs getting into the trash cans, or a thunderstorm that had blown in a window in the upstairs parlor, or what to do about any number of other matters that kept coming up. Mr. Schoenberg had told her what to do. Now he was gone. Minny was apparently really smart (actually, she really *was* smart). So, Minny used her imagination and whatever she had picked up during 15 years of working in various shops and catering companies.
She got by. They all did.
But now a new potential crisis raised its head: Both women were about to move to Clematis Station. Minny was on the verge of panic. What if the powers that be put her next to Victoria Schoenberg? As luck would have it, the two units that were available were as far apart as it was possible to get. The dining room had two shifts, and the two women would not be in the same one.
Minny knew that Victoria, with her great heft, would not be likely to walk the distance to see her, so at last she could find some peace of mind.
It's funny how things turn out, isn't it?
