When Abby heard her favorite aunt had died suddenly, Abby was ashamed to admit the first thing she thought of was inheritance.
Sally had always been Abby’s favorite aunt, even though they hadn’t seen each other for sixteen years. It helped that Abby’s best memories of childhood involved Sally. It also helped that Abby didn’t have a lot of great memories from childhood.
Sally had been the one who swooped down and saved Abby during the midst of her parents’ very messy and sometimes violent divorce. Abby’s mother, Marion, had married a rich man who’d promised to always take care of her. Instead, armed with a legion of divorce lawyers, he managed to scrounge out a pitiable alimony and child support payment. Less than a week after the divorce was finalized Marion had called up her sister and begged her to take Abby while she looked for a job and cheaper place to live.
Abby, twelve years old at the time, was swooped up into a glamorous bohemian lifestyle. Sally lived in a sprawling, old apartment in the Bronx, with beaded entryways, velvet curtains and velvet antimacassar, but no real furniture. Abby slept on a piled of embroidered pillows on the floor of the livingroom, and woke up every day not knowing if Sally had come home.
Sally, beautiful with long blond hair and a curvy body, had several boyfriends going at once. Abby’s job was to act as social secretary and make sure Sally didn’t double book dates. When Sally wasn’t on a date she’d take Abby down to the Harlem’s main strip and feed her fried chicken or waffles. It was early fall and Abby was missing school but Sally didn’t seem to care so Abby didn’t mention it. She sat around and listened to Sally’s huge record collection and took walks around the city, going all the way down to Central Park.
Two weeks later Marion appeared and announced she’d found both a job and apartment, and whisked Abby away that evening.
Abby hated the small dark apartment, which was the complete opposite of the huge, airy house they used to live in. Marion’s new job kept her so busy that she ceased to cook for Abby, instead leaving her a bag of bread and some peanut butter. Maybe some mac’n cheese if she were lucky.
Abby hated her new school too, the kids were not kind to newcomers, the teachers over-hassled.
Finally Abby called up Sally and told her the state of things with Marion, and begged to go back to Harlem. Sally came to the apartment the next day and had a huge, blistering fight with Marion over many things, and finally it transpired that Sally would help invest Marion’s savings with the help of her banker boyfriend.
That money disappeared a month later, along with the boyfriend.
Abby never got to talk to her aunt again.
— Von
Sally had always been Abby’s favorite aunt, even though they hadn’t seen each other for sixteen years. It helped that Abby’s best memories of childhood involved Sally. It also helped that Abby didn’t have a lot of great memories from childhood.
Sally had been the one who swooped down and saved Abby during the midst of her parents’ very messy and sometimes violent divorce. Abby’s mother, Marion, had married a rich man who’d promised to always take care of her. Instead, armed with a legion of divorce lawyers, he managed to scrounge out a pitiable alimony and child support payment. Less than a week after the divorce was finalized Marion had called up her sister and begged her to take Abby while she looked for a job and cheaper place to live.
Abby, twelve years old at the time, was swooped up into a glamorous bohemian lifestyle. Sally lived in a sprawling, old apartment in the Bronx, with beaded entryways, velvet curtains and velvet antimacassar, but no real furniture. Abby slept on a piled of embroidered pillows on the floor of the livingroom, and woke up every day not knowing if Sally had come home.
Sally, beautiful with long blond hair and a curvy body, had several boyfriends going at once. Abby’s job was to act as social secretary and make sure Sally didn’t double book dates. When Sally wasn’t on a date she’d take Abby down to the Harlem’s main strip and feed her fried chicken or waffles. It was early fall and Abby was missing school but Sally didn’t seem to care so Abby didn’t mention it. She sat around and listened to Sally’s huge record collection and took walks around the city, going all the way down to Central Park.
Two weeks later Marion appeared and announced she’d found both a job and apartment, and whisked Abby away that evening.
Abby hated the small dark apartment, which was the complete opposite of the huge, airy house they used to live in. Marion’s new job kept her so busy that she ceased to cook for Abby, instead leaving her a bag of bread and some peanut butter. Maybe some mac’n cheese if she were lucky.
Abby hated her new school too, the kids were not kind to newcomers, the teachers over-hassled.
Finally Abby called up Sally and told her the state of things with Marion, and begged to go back to Harlem. Sally came to the apartment the next day and had a huge, blistering fight with Marion over many things, and finally it transpired that Sally would help invest Marion’s savings with the help of her banker boyfriend.
That money disappeared a month later, along with the boyfriend.
Abby never got to talk to her aunt again.
— Von
Ah, so, some backstory. Gosh, I would have loved Sally's apartment, too. Harlem is five miles from the Bronx, though. They traveled that far for soul food? Abby missed a crucial part of schooling and peer socialization... or at least a few months of it. Poor Marion. But, she pursued wealth, a mistake. Abby is sorta making the same mistake now... ---Macoff
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