Dinner, New Year's Eve, 1968

[kentuck]

Dinner with the Allen family from excerpt by sister of George Allen, Jr... I did not know Allen was part French/Tunisian?? Did he speak out against the "freedom" fries and "freedom" toast?? :)

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http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=TRADE%20PAPER:NEW:0812992326:19.00&page=excerpt#page

<snip>
Earlier that day, our mother, who is French, had intercepted one such call.
"You Americans are so brutal!" she laid into the guy, "so different from the French. At least when a man is standing at the guillotine, we give him a cigarette before cutting off his goddamn head!"

Mom hated reporters. She said reporters were vultures preying on Dad. Dad liked reporters. He often talked to them as if they were long-lost friends, confiding in them recently how much he loved coaching the Rams. That's all Dad wanted, he would tell reporters. Dad would tell them, "I just want to coach, you see?" But this time, tonight, when the telephone rang, Mom answered it. Enough!" she screamed into the receiver and slammed it down, then took it off the hook.

"You think those goddamn reporters care if we're trying to eat our goddamn holiday dinner in peace?" she asked. I looked around the table. Gregory was pouring himself another glass of milk, Bruce was slurping up the last of a long spaghetti strand, and George was licking his plate clean.
Dad hadn't touched his food.

"Starving yourself isn't going to get your job back, so eat," she said. Then she said to all of us, "Your father thinks chewing is a distraction. Your father's afraid chewing might take his mind off football."