One Brief Shining Moment

001. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫

July 5th, 1963

My first encounter with a Kennedy was in the summer of 1963.

It was a Monday, around noon, and the voice of my stepmother Evangeline was echoing up the walls of my home and into my ears.

"Elizabeth, please come downstairs!" She called, a hint of irritation in her voice.

I had been sitting in my bedroom, a book in my lap and the heat of strong sunlight washing over me in my room. I quite enjoyed the summer time, since the hot months were usually devoid of the packed social season that I loathed. I groaned to myself, covering the mouthpiece of my room's telephone. I had been in the middle of an important conversation; I had just begun reading a copy of Cat's Cradle, and had been deep in debate over the significance of Bokononism in the novel.

"Sorry Margaret, I have to let you go," I sighed, lowering my voice as I spoke to the caller on the line "Vonnegut and Bokononism will have to wait."

"What's your bag?" my friend Margaret asked in a concerned tone.

"Evangeline wants something." I replied, snapping my book closed and standing up "Lord know's what."

A string of laughter filtered across the line into my ears.

"Ah I see," my friend Margaret replied in a serious voice, mocking the sound of Evangeline's voice "Elizabeth Mellon Bruce you go down there right now!"

This time I laughed out loud, my voice catching the ear of my stepmother. This time, her summon was not as pleasant as before.

"Elizabeth!" She yelled up the stairwell "Hang up the phone and come down here this instant!"

"God, she's a downer," I groaned amidst Margaret's laughs "I'll talk to you later, Marg."

"See you at lunch then, Lizzie." She said, and then the line went blank.

I sighed, hanging the phone up on its hook. Whatever it was that Evangeline wanted, if I had made her wait any longer she'd come up stairs and drag me down herself.

Evangeline was many things, but patient was not one of them.

So I left my bedroom and walked down the back stairs of our house. Did I forget to do one of my chores for the day? No, I had dusted the good china hours ago. Maybe it was the way I did it then... No, I thought, she would have already yelled at me about that by now. I continued to wind through hallways towards the front of the house, pondering what it could be that Evangeline wanted. We lived in a rather large home in Georgetown, a historic red brick building with multiple wings and a bright red front door. I had spent most of my young life in the home, due to my father's line of work in the District. It was a maze of a home but I knew the serpentined halls by heart, so when I heard Evangeline's voice echoing from the other side of the foyer, I knew I was heading for the main drawing room. This was my least favorite room, mainly due to who spent her days entertaining it the most frequently.

"And please have dinner ready by 6:30 sharp this time, Loretta," She called to our maid as I walked in the room. "I don't want to be kept waiting again."

Evangeline had draped herself dramatically on the large couch, surrounded by some of her dogs, a picture of elegance and grace. Her brown hair was styled into a large bouffant, her lips painted a painfully bright rouge as she smoked a thin cigarette, beady eyes fixed on the doorway where I arrived. Evangeline was a mirror warmer, the type of woman who couldn't resist a glance at her own reflection and whose vanity rivaled even Narcissus. She was a mean spirited woman, so I resigned myself in my youth to irritate her at any chance.