The Birthday Party, parts 3787 - 3790

 3787. The guests at Harriet’s birthday party consisted of Ivan, the sculptor, and the painter of icons whose name was Peter. The women were Harriet herself, her sister Clara, Frieda who was a student studying Botany at the University. Frieda was twenty-eight, had red hair and a fiery temperament to go with it. 

 3788. She had been hired some years ago to be a tutor to Harriet’s children, but over time had been adopted into the family as almost an older sister to the children. Frieda was very opinionated, and would sometimes become terrible angry and annoyed in a discussion, especially if the topic was politics or women's rights.

  3789. But the truth was that Harriet's family and friends  considered Frieda’s outbursts to be a form of entertainment, and she was especially favored with invitations to dinner parties because her rages were considered comic in the extreme. She was thought of almost as a spice to be added to a dish, to add zest.

3790. Although Frieda was laughed at, still she was very respected, but sometimes her feelings were hurt if something she said was ridiculed and laughed at. At those times she would suddenly stand up from the table, draw herself up to her full height of six foot three, and turn and leave the room stifling her tears of anger.