“What part of ‘drop it’ isn’t in your vocabulary? Enough! It’s just not your business, Ruth,” said George. “We are only willing to continue this conversation about other things pertaining to the fire if that line of questioning ends now.”

“How fascinatingly traditional and unfortunate that here we are again, as if no progress has been made these past decades, with the big man defending his little woman,” Ruth said in her smug scholar’s voice. George could just imagine her using it to score points, by the hour, in some dreary seminar. “And how very disappointing, I must say, that you, Rebecca, a strong and independent woman, would want to have your man speaking for you about such an important matter, which doesn’t concern his family history, but your own. How infantilizing this must be for you! Does he even represent your point of view correctly, or are you just content to let him be the bully and make these decisions for you?”

“That’s incredibly insulting,” Rebecca said. “Maybe you need to leave now. Do you speak this way to people very much? Do you have any friends? Your feminist agenda is really getting on my nerves now. And I know that’s not fair to feminists. Do you even have a life? We invited you here, despite a lot of misgivings, because the fire is important both historically and personally, for me, for my family. I do want to help you get your facts straight, because you’re writing about my grandmother. But that doesn’t mean you can just snoop around and ask about everything. I just don’t want you misrepresenting my grandmother.” Rebecca was trying not to shout, but she could hear her voice rising, as it did when she was upset. She was afraid she might start to cry now, but she rode it out, taking a couple of deep breaths before adding, “That’s all I care about. That’s really why I asked you here, to do what I can to protect her, to have whatever influence I can have over the way you’re writing about her.”

“Also, we did have some questions we had hoped you could help answer,” George said.

“Maybe this whole thing was a giant mistake,” Rebecca said.

Joe Green sauntered by and stropped himself against her leg briefly, and Rebecca swept him up into her lap. He struggled briefly but she kept a tight grip, and finally she could feel his bony body relaxing on her thighs. Nobody spoke for another moment. Ruth coughed and cleared her throat, then reached dramatically into her bag for an inhaler, which she placed on the table at the ready.

“I believe we have had a misunderstanding, for which I take full responsibility,” Ruth said stiffly, looking away. “I would very much appreciate your willingness to overlook my lack of etiquette. Sometimes I get so carried away with my theories of social organization that I forget myself and forget about the conventions so many other people follow. Please do forgive me.”