Mourning Glory by Warren Adler Read Free Book Online Page A

toward Jackie's school.
    "All in all, I think we do okay for a mother and
daughter," Jackie said. "I know girls who tell their parents nothing.
And I mean, there's lots to tell."
    "I worry about you, Jackie."
    "And I worry about you, Mom. Really I do. I would love
it if you found a guy." Jackie turned to Grace and smiled, showing her
glistening white teeth. "Like today. Maybe if we could devise a kind of
signal that the apartment was in use, we could avoid the ... you know ...
anyway, you wouldn't have been that upset."
    "On top of everything, your stud socked me in the
stomach," Grace blurted.
    "That's because he was frustrated. Don't you know
about men, Mom? Because of your interruption, he didn't get off. That's a sure
road to male hostility. They get real nasty when they get to a certain point
and don't get it off."
    "I appreciate the insight," Grace muttered,
astonished, wondering how her child had acquired such knowledge.
    Up to then, Grace thought she had heard everything.
    "It happens to women, too. I already came two or three
times. I was just about to finish him."
    "Jesus, Jackie. Where do you get all this?"
    "From life's experiences, Mom. But this I can tell you
honestly: I don't drink and I don't do drugs. There, doesn't that put your mind
at ease?"
    Did it really? She wasn't sure. But she did wonder who was
the mother and who was the daughter in this relationship. The fact was that she
felt inept and an abysmal failure as a parent.
    "Maybe I'm naive," Grace sighed, half to herself.
    The school loomed into view, and Jackie checked her makeup
in the visor mirror. But as the car slowed, Jackie turned to her suddenly.
    "Why were you home so early?"
    "I was fired," Grace said, actually enjoying the
revelation. She watched her daughter frown and shake her head.
    "Are you serious?" Jackie asked, studying her
face.
    "I was rude to one of their best customers."
    "You were? That wasn't smart."
    "I know. It was dumb."
    "So what will we do now?"
    Grace shrugged.
    "I'm entitled to unemployment. That will give me some
breathing room."
    "Breathing room? We've never had that."
    "Don't worry, darling. I have plans."
    "I guess that means the Donna Karan is out,"
Jackie said, pouting.
    "Afraid so," Grace said.
    "Not to mention the possibility of a car."
    "It was never a possibility, Jackie."
    "Shit, Mom. How could you be so stupid?"
    "It's inherited."
    "From who?"
    "From you, Jackie. I inherited it from you."
    It was supposed to elicit a laugh from Jackie. It didn't.
She had stopped the car in front of the school entrance. Jackie started to get
out, then scrutinized her mother's face.
    "Sometimes I worry about you, Mom," Jackie said,
shaking her head. She kissed her mother on the cheek and bounced out of the
car. Grace watched her until her eyes filled with tears and Jackie became a
blur in the distance.
    She drove west on the Tamiami Trail, in the opposite
direction of her apartment. That was the last place she wanted to be. Her sense
of failure was acute. The events of the morning had been a massive blow to her
self-esteem.
    Her eyes surveyed the ugly clutter of stores, fast-food
franchises, furniture and car dealers, TV shops and shopping centers that
serviced the army of what was euphemistically referred to as the middle class.
Lower, she muttered, knowing exactly where she stood on the income continuum,
despite the forty-two-hundred-dollar check in her pocketbook, feeling the full
and stifling weight of her despair.
    Her thoughts, though depressing, managed to trigger her
instinct for survival. She would have to remember to register at the state
unemployment office and go through the usual processing to obtain her check.
She had done that before, and it never failed to fill her with a massive sense
of humiliation. Just standing in line with the rest of the losers was a
horrifying prospect.
    The midday traffic crawled slowly as she squinted into the
bright sunlight. Then she noticed an enterprise that her mind either had