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Had Ben and Tony in this evening for bridge, Tony and I taking a terrible shellacking. Ben is facing a tonsil operation next week. I tried to convince him ether is the thing but he still thinks a local is what he wants; he's welcome to it!
[[new paragraph]]I've noticed for several days, Willie has acted unnatural. Tonight after we had retired, she finally told me as she never has before, that Mother has been driving her nearly distracted! She has lost all the weight she gained at Basin Harbor, is so nervous she said were it not for the children, she would have gone to Louisville - she even talked about "jumping into the bay," cried bitterly, said even the children were feeling the unnatural atmosphere of tension and she felt it was bad for them to be living in "such a household." I have never heard her carry on so. The result was I didn't get to sleep until about 3 AM racking my brains as to a way out and unsuccessfully. Everything Willie says is true - it must be hell cooped up here day after day with Mother. Willie can't get alone - if she does, Mother treats her like she would a criminal, makes cutting remarks, sulks. She wants to go everywhere Willie does, saying she can't stand it to be alone. Willie says she has had her at book club, etc. meetings and when the treasurer's report is read, Mother sticks her fingers in her ears - frightfully embarrassing. The whole thing has me terribly unhappy. I don't know what to do. Any suggestion Mother should leave would create an even more retaliatory attitude. She is scheduled to go to Buena Vista in January but in the state she already has driven Willie to, I don't know if things can last that long without a terrible blow-up of some sort.