An Italian Wife
“FRANCESCA’S GRANDMOTHER BEGAN.
Rat face. Francesca wrote. Turd.
Her grandmother folded her hands, brown-spotted and blue-veined, into her lap and considered. She wore a thin cotton dress, black, and beneath it a white slip, white bloomers, a white camisole. Over it she wore an apron in a gaudy floral pattern. Francesca hated her. She had lost several teeth, and as she spoke air whistled through the spaces.
“I am writing to tell you of my gratitude and the gratitude of the Italians who are here in America, away from the homeland that you will once again make strong . . .” her grandmother dictated.
Josephine only spoke very basic English. Although she had been in America for over thirty years, she still mixed up please and thank you, still looked like she was drowning when she tried to piece together an entire sentence. Even her grandmother’s Italian embarrassed Francesca, with its dropped final vowels and bastardized words.
You Fascist pig, Francesca wrote. We living under the democrac...y of the United States of America despise you .MoreLess
Rat face. Francesca wrote. Turd.
Her grandmother folded her hands, brown-spotted and blue-veined, into her lap and considered. She wore a thin cotton dress, black, and beneath it a white slip, white bloomers, a white camisole. Over it she wore an apron in a gaudy floral pattern. Francesca hated her. She had lost several teeth, and as she spoke air whistled through the spaces.
“I am writing to tell you of my gratitude and the gratitude of the Italians who are here in America, away from the homeland that you will once again make strong . . .” her grandmother dictated.
Josephine only spoke very basic English. Although she had been in America for over thirty years, she still mixed up please and thank you, still looked like she was drowning when she tried to piece together an entire sentence. Even her grandmother’s Italian embarrassed Francesca, with its dropped final vowels and bastardized words.
You Fascist pig, Francesca wrote. We living under the democrac...y of the United States of America despise you .MoreLess
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