I Remember Mama Page #8

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One year after that...

Who is the most beautiful Norwegian

baby in San Francisco?

Look. He's asleep.

- Trina.

- Yeah.

Do you know what next Thursday is?

Our anniversary.

What would you think

of our giving a little party?

I think it is time you took your place

in society.

Well, what would you say

to ice cream and cookies for the ladies?

And coffee, of course.

Perhaps port wine for the gentlemen.

- Port wine?

- Just a little.

You could bring it in already

poured out in little glasses.

And Jenny or Sigrid could

help me serve the ice cream.

No.

You will have someone in

to help you in the kitchen.

You mean a waitress?

Oh, Peter. But none of us have ever...

You don't really think...

Oh, no.

Trina...

...there is something

I would like to tell you.

I am not very good

at expressing myself...

...or my deeper feelings.

But...

...I want you to know...

...that I am not only very fond of you...

...but I'm very proud of you as well.

And l... I want you to have the best

of everything...

...as far as it is in my power

to give it to you.

I want you to have a waitress.

Oh, Peter.

Papa was working steadily now,

and the little bank was fuller...

...than it had ever been, but the old

and thrifty ways continued.

I've just decided something.

What have you decided?

If Nels is gonna be a doctor, when I

grow up, I'm gonna be a veterinarian.

I remember one afternoon...

...when I was going out

to shop for Mama.

- Goodbye, everybody.

- Goodbye.

A horse doctor? Goodbye, Katrin.

There are more animals in the world

than there are human beings...

...and more human doctors

than there are animal ones.

It isn't fair, Mama.

I don't suppose we can have a horse,

can we, Papa?

- Maybe a pony?

- A pony?

Dagmar, what are you going to do

when the pony grows up to be a horse?

Oh, I never thought of that yet.

- What is it?

- Mama...

...I'm not going to college.

And why not?

Because it'd be a waste of money.

The point of my going to college...

...was to be a writer.

- Well, I'm not going to be one.

- Katrin. Is your letter makes you say this?

Has a story come back again?

This is the tenth time.

- It's the best I've ever written.

- What your teacher say about this?

Teachers don't know

anything about writing.

They just know about literature.

Say... Say, Katrin, last night,

I read an article in the newspapers.

I saved it for you.

You know, my eye just caught

a headline. It says...

Oh, here it is.

It says, "Woman writer tells key

to literary success."

- Who?

- Is a lady called...

- Where is everybody?

...Florence Dana Moorhead.

- Lars, the spread.

- All right, Mama.

- "Florence Dana..."

- What's going on here?

- Nothing.

- It gives her picture here.

Did you ever hear of her?

Yes, of course. Everyone has.

- She's terribly successful.

- What does she say is the secret?

Well, she say... Katrin,

you better read it. Here.

Look.

"Florence Dana Moorhead, celebrated

novelist and short-story writer..."

Blah, blah, blah.

"Interviewed today in her suite

at the Fairmont."

Blah, blah.

"Pronounced sincerity the one essential

quality for success as a writer."

A lot of help that is.

If you sent your stories to this lady...

...maybe she'd tell you

what's wrong with them.

- Oh, Mama, don't be silly.

- Well, why is silly?

In the first place, she's a very

important person, a celebrity.

And she'd never read them.

In the second place, you seem to think

that writing's like...

...well, like cooking or something,

that you just need a recipe.

It takes a lot more.

You've got to have the gift for it.

You have to have the gift

for cooking too.

But there are things you must learn...

...even if you have the gift.

Well, that's the whole point.

I haven't.

I know now.

So, Papa, if you're through

with the paper...

...I'll take the want-ad section,

see if I can find myself a job.

This lady in the paper,

what else does she say, Nels?

Well, not much.

The rest seems to be

about her and her home.

"Apart from literature, Mrs. Moorhead's

main interest in life is gastronomy."

Gastronomy. The stars.

No, eating. "A brilliant cook herself,

she says that she would as soon...

...turn out a good souffl

as a short story.

Or find a new recipe

as she would a first edition."

Mama, I'll go see if I have

any puppies yet.

Yeah.

Let's see her picture.

Is kind face.

What is "first edition"?

- Christine, look.

- What, Dagmar?

- I've got puppies!

- How many?

We'll see. What will I call them?

Are you coming?

Don't name them anything

till I get there.

Ms. Moorhead.

Calling Ms. Moorhead.

Ms. Moorhead.

Calling Ms. Moorhead.

- Call for Ms. Moorhead.

- Yes?

Ms. Moorhead?

- Ms. Florence Dana Moorhead?

- Yes?

Could I speak to you, please?

Yes. What's it about?

I read in the paper

what you say about writing.

- Oh, yes.

- My daughter Katrin wants to be writer.

Oh, really?

- I bring her stories.

- Look, I'm afraid I'm in a hurry.

- I'm leaving San Francisco this evening.

- But if I could talk...

...for just two minute. That's all.

- I've had to make it a rule...

...never to read anyone's

unpublished material.

It said that you like to collect

recipes for eating.

Yes, I've written

several books on cooking.

l, too, am interested in gastronomy.

I am good cook. Norwegian.

I make good Norwegian dishes.

Lutefisk and koettbullar...

...that's meatballs with cream sauce.

- I know. I've eaten them in Christiania.

My mother give me

special recipe for koettbullar.

She was best cook I ever know.

Never have I told this recipe,

not even to my sisters...

...because they are not good cooks.

But if you let me talk to you,

I give it to you.

Is fine recipe.

Now, your daughter

wants to write, you say.

- Yeah.

- Does she write?

- Or does she only want to write?

- She writes all the time.

Maybe she should not be author,

but is hard to give up something...

...that has meant so much.

- I agree.

- I bring her stories. I bring 12.

- Twelve.

Well, if you could read maybe just one.

To know if someone cooks well,

you do not need to eat a whole dinner.

You're very persuasive.

- Why didn't your daughter come herself?

- Well, she was too unhappy...

...and too scared of you.

You are celebrity.

- But I see your picture in the paper.

- That frightful picture.

Well, is a picture of woman

who like to eat good.

It certainly is.

Now tell me about the koettbullar.

Yeah.

When you make the meatballs,

you drop them in boiling stock.

Not water. That is one of the secrets.

And the cream sauce is another secret.

Is half sour cream, added at the last.

Oh, that sounds marvelous.

You have to grind the meat six times...

...and then you...

Well, I could write this out for you.

And while I write, you could read.

I remember that having written

a tragic farewell to my art...

...I was busy tearing up

all the stories I'd ever written...

...when I heard Mama's voice

at the foot of the attic stairs.

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