**********
The sun poured into the room like it was angry with Silvia for sleeping in at a time like this. She noticed that, for once, Cosmo had left his curtains open and thought that he might have been trying to brighten the place up. This time, she wished he had not. The black she saw through her closed eyes turned into a reddish black, making her pull the blanket over her eyes, which did allow her to doze back off into a state of restless sleep. Unfortunately, she didn’t sleep very long before she was awakened again, this time by the ring of Vince’s phone. She could no longer fool herself that going back to sleep was even a remote possibility.
She could hear Vince talking on the phone to one of his friends, telling him about last night’s events and refreshing the whole scene in her memory. She opened her eyes, and Cosmo popped in the room to tell her about the breakfast options.
“There’s Cheerios or Cornflakes. Help yourself,” said Cosmo, putting his jacket on and continuing with, “Gotta run. Just make sure to lock the door behind you.”
“Hey Cosmo,” Silvia said as he was about to run out the door.
“Yeah?” Cosmo asked.
“Thanks a lot for everything,” she said, her eyes filled with gratitude.
She then moped into the kitchen to make coffee and eat a bowl of cereal, while planning her day. She would drop Vince off at school and go straight to work. She would probably go back to her father’s house after work, unless he was still raging. She was planning to call him during her work break to find out. Just then, her own phone rang. It was Frank, remorseful, hung over, and apologetic. “I’m sorry, Silvia, about last night. I don’t know what gets into me sometimes.”
She felt like saying that she did know what gets into him sometimes and that something was alcohol. But she refrained. She knew that she needed to use the opportunity at hand to get his support for the family reunion and she knew that she would not accomplish this feat by letting him off the hook easy. She needed to use this rare occasion, in which Frank was feeling sorry, to make him feel more sorry than he felt already. And she knew just how to begin.
“Dad, Vince is really upset,” she said.
“I know,” Frank said. “I feel terrible. Maybe I had too much to drink last night.” This was the great understatement of the year and not really worthy of a response, so she said nothing. Her lack of response was also a smart tactic. By leaving some space and silence in their conversation, Frank’s feelings of remorsefulness and guilt would continue to escalate unless he could say something to redeem himself.
“Just so you know, I’m going to be helping him out with his tuition. In fact, I plan on paying for the first semester in full. And the second, if I can.”
But that wasn’t enough for Silvia, who then said, “And the dinner after his graduation, Dad? What about that?”
“Yeah, I’ll pay for that too. I already said I would.” He had a hint of defensiveness in his voice, as if he might have momentarily forgotten his rampage last night. But still, his response was clear and there was no trace of reluctance in his voice. Silvia began to think that she could ask him for anything now, as he was so very anxious to buy his ticket to forgiveness for his latest stunt.
“Hey, do me a favor though,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“Don’t mention anything about last night to Mom.”
“I won’t say anything to her, Dad. Promise.”
Olive Branches Don't Grow On Trees Page 33