“‘Shortly after dinner, when we were about to sit down to a game of canasta, Jennie whispered to me, “I can’t find my bridge!”
“‘“Your what?” I asked.
“‘“My denture. I couldn’t stand the pressure—that steak, I guess.”
“‘What a night! We were too embarrassed to tell Sam and C.B. why we ransacked the house. Along about midnight, I thought of the garbage! Jennie and I lifted that five-foot can, dragged it down the cellar steps and emptied its contents on the cement floor. There we found it, neatly wrapped in her monogrammed handkerchief, safe and snug among the coffee grounds and tea bags!’”
John was laughing. “Only your mother would think of the garbage!”
“Honestly, John, I don’t see how Father puts up with Mother’s passion for doing good! Think of all those remote cousins, aunts, and uncles, content and accustomed to family indifference, suddenly recalled from oblivion—and the inevitable letter, inviting them to leave the hot city, come down for a week end—”
Minna smiled in spite of her serious misgivings. “But these people must bore Father and her too. She abuses her health. Father ought to put his foot down!”
John merely shook his head. “Your father adores your mother. He thinks these successive waves of self-torture are an endearing weakness and so plays along. It’s a gift—to be so selfless, doing kind and gracious things—actually enjoying doing them.”
When for ten days after the climb up Maroon Peak there was still no letter from “home,” Mrs. Lurie became anxious and put in a long distance call. Her mother tried to sound cheerful but Minna could detect her anxiety. “Father didn’t wish me to write that he was ill.... He’s doing nicely.... Yes, he’d love to see you, but he wouldn’t want you to leave until the Season is over.”
That night the Luries had a conference and made a quick decision. Mrs. Lurie and Judy would leave Aspen as soon as they could get plane reservations for New York. Mr. Lurie, because of his commitments, must wait until the official closing of the Music Festival, then he would follow by train with most of their luggage.