Great Aunt Helen

 It was Great Aunt Helen's birthday and her niece, Aunt Julie, had arranged for the whole clan,  from far and near, to gather at a Pennsylvania hotel in a surprise celebration so, of course, Fiorella, who had been tracing her father's family roots, hopped a plane to Yankee Land--to show off her mink jacket, if nothing else.

The hotel was buzzing with old relationships renewed, and then came the big reveal--Helen was walked onto the stage by Aunt Julie and the room roared with applause and cheers.

But Aunt Helen was not amused. In fact, she was angry and stalked back behind the curtains.

After a few moments of silence and confusion, everyone resumed talking to each other, probably remembering that Helen had always been an odd duck--sometimes in a nice way, sometimes not. She had joined the WACs in WWII, and, when she came home, the story went around that there had been a boyfriend slain in battle, but Fio doubts it. She thinks Aunt Helen--who could be so generous that she bought a lovely set of front room furniture for Fio when she visited Texas and so vicious that she kicked one of her fifth grade students down the stairs--was her own woman.

Thus, when the time came, despite Aunt Julie's pleas, Great Aunt Helen arranged to be buried in the military cemetery rather than the family's Russian Orthodox plot.