“I don’t much, either,” said Weezy. “I don’t know how you can stand so much institutionalizing. A few people get out after sixteen years of it still hanging on to themselves—maybe you can do it—but most come out with their minds plugged up. They’ve never even centered in on their own thoughts because they’re so busy assimilating other people’s. That’s my objection to all social structures.”

“What are you going to do, Weezy, wipe out all the schools—you and your gang?” Tina asked sarcastically.

“That’s the kind of hairpin I am. Kinky.”

“Obnoxious.”

“I’ll tell you something, Tina. When it got time for me to follow in your footsteps and go to college in the States, I got scared shitless. I took a hard look at you and Mom and what could also be me, and all I saw was life centered around this awful contrived thing called getting ahead. That’s when I said, No way. I had to keep out of it and save myself.”

“Do what you want, Weezy, but don’t pretend that your role is more socially committed than mine. Right now all you’re really into is yourself. That wouldn’t be big enough or interesting enough for me.”

Tina’s words made her uncomfortable precisely because she did feel out of touch. She had cast aside the protest and debates and idealism of her student days to fit into getting on and having a career. It was the recognition that she was not socially committed that made her ridicule Weezy.

Still, since their mother’s death she had resolved to be closer to her sister.

She picked up an Italian school notebook covered in Raphaelesque wreaths and marked 1969 on the spine. “I can’t live like this anymore,” she read. “Questo matrimonio non ci sarà.” She looked up at Weezy and said, “That’s the line from I Promessi Sposi.”

“Jesus, Tina, you’re so literary! Here’s Mom talking about ending her marriage and all you can do is make a reference to I Promessi Sposi! That’s what I mean about you—literature comes before life.”

“Don’t be an ass, Weezy. Literature is life.”

“Diaries are as bad as families,” said Weezy. “They do more bad than good if we take them straight.”

“Do you think papà knew how she felt? But these last years she was happy, I swear it! I really began to think of her as my friend, as a person more than just my mother. She was so much looser and funnier. I remember when she came for graduation. She was marvelous; she looked great and acted great.”

“She had a lover by then,” said Weezy.

Tina was surprised by Weezy’s bluntness. It was something they had never discussed. “Did you know that, too?”