You Are Not Like Your Mother

"Now Miss, tell me about your mother," he said his tone softening slightly but still unusually formal.

"Chunhua?" Changying was surprised by the question.

"You call your mother by her name?" Marcos asked disapprovingly.

"My mother has never been the traditional mother type. Though she has started to become inclined to act more like it recently," she laughed softly thinking about how their relationship had changed since becoming involved with Wang and his Uncle Robin.

"Explain," Marcos prompted her.

"My parents didn't divorce until I was about fourteen. Before that, they seemed to fight and have make-up sex in equal measure. I kept myself out of the way mostly, learned to cook at an early age and did most of the household chores. They both worked so as long as I had good grades and didn't invite friends over they seemed happy to ignore my existence for the most part," she began speaking honestly about how she was raised. These people would never meet Chunhua, so it was no big deal if they knew the truth.

"After the divorce?" he prompted.

"Chunhua changed overnight, suddenly she wanted my company but more as a friend or a sister, someone to shop with and go out to dinner or piano bars with. I don't have particularly fond memories of that time," Changying sighed remembering those horrible teenage years. Marco tilted his head inquisitively and motioned that she should continue.

"She seemed determined to make me in her image, which is that tall sexy Jessica Rabbit type when I am short, and my figure is not what society deems beautiful, and she tried to fight nature itself. She would put me on fad diets, and try to dress me in clothes not suited to my figure or my personality. When I got to University, she wanted me to become part of the social scene so she could tag along and date the good-looking young guys there rather than people her own age." Changying let the bitterness she felt creep into her voice.

"This behaviour changed recently?" Marco prompted once again interested now in how the girl sitting opposite him had become the poised, well-spoken young women she presented as.

"I met Wang," she smiled. "The first man I dated who could resist Chunhua's particular brand of seduction. Then she met a man who seemed to change her outlook on life. She started staying home in the evenings and took an interest in what I was doing and wanted. It's been nice not having to worry constantly about where she is or who she is with. I still worry about her but on a different level," she shrugged trying to explain how she still felt that she needed to be the responsible one of the two of them.

"You obviously had good role models, a grandmother or an Aunt perhaps?" Marco asked.

"No there is no one else, just my mother and I," Changying smiled. "It's taken some adjustment to get used to how involved in each other's lives Wang's family is. There are twelve of them, and I've only met eleven, so far. I met some of them over the holidays for the first time; then there is the extended family. I never knew someone could have so many relatives."

"Most of the families who belong to the Twelve are large," Marco allowed himself a small smile. "Family is important to us."

"I have come to understand that," she returned his smile. "That is a large part of the reason I am here."

"You appear to have some etiquette, if not from your mother's influence then where?" Marco continued doggedly poking at her early life and what factors created the woman sitting before him.

"I may not have been one of the popular girls at school, but I did have friends and join clubs with them," Changying tried to remember the good times she had at school. "I guess my home economics teacher was old fashioned and believed every girl should be able to cook and sew and keep a perfect home so that she could host fabulous dinner parties or high tea. We had a high tea club in our senior year where we would host school dignitaries or parents once a month after school. It was like playing ladies when we were all just kids trying to work out what we wanted to do after graduation."

"I see," Marco nodded. "It didn't continue through college?"

"We went our separate ways, but a few of us get together now and then and go to high tea at a nice hotel or restaurant," Changying answered. "Usually for a birthday or special event."

"No major influences on your persona aside of your mother and the home economics teacher?" Marco asked seeking to find how a girl with such neglectful parents and obvious self-esteem issues came to be here in this unusual situation.

"I had some lovely lecturers at University. One introduced me to some of her friends who worked for some of the state galleries or as independent contractors. I was able to visit Melbourne a few times to be able to see one particular restorer at work. It's a difficult field to succeed in, reputation is everything," Changying said remembering the woman fondly. "We still correspond, and she lets me know when art exhibitions that might interest me are coming to the galleries she is connected to. Quite often they don't make their way up to the northern states."

"That is most fortunate for you then," Marco said studying her carefully as she spoke. "I too was fortunate enough to find friendships from those who are experts in my field of study at college."