High Notes from the Metropolitan Opera

We were living at the Parc Coliseum. Penthouse. Between West End & Broadway. UWS galore. We had a view of the Hudson and Riverside Park. We summered at the Museum of Natural History. She was teaching at Julliard. Things were good. The biggest fight we'd had was about what was better Keebler's Vienna Fingers or the Cameo by Nabisco. She said something about the Cameo being for the working class. I laughed.

Her coat was blue like the Manhattan Bridge and her eyes were green like the Gowanus and when the light hit them a certain way she looked like a tiger. From the backseat Brutus said, "Mommy, the word "tiger" comes from the Greek "tigris", which is probably derived from a Persian translation meaning "arrow". Probably a reference to the animal's speed. Tigers are really fast, mommy." Keep in mind, little Brutus was 12 years old.

Saturday mornings we always cooked with the kids. We were making white nougat when June looked up at me and said, "Daddy, white nougat comes from Montélimar... from the 18th Century."

These kids were way too smart for their own good. At 9 years old no little girl should know the difference between white and brown nougat much less the country of origin. A week later we moved to Greenwich Village.