You Know How Dramatic Teenagers Can Be

"Well, I'd say that evening was a wash." Mavis Schuyler poured herself an extra large brandy. She had most certainly earned it after sitting through not only appetizers with Tiffany, her fiance and various other relatives for what had to be close to an hour.

"Have you heard from the hospital?" Brad's girlfriend Claudine gazed at Mavis with cool granite eyes that were decidedly judgmental. "Or have you bothered to call and see how your niece is doing? She did collapse into the guacamole dip, you know."

"How could I not know that? I was there, wasn't I?" Mavis looked around for Brad since she really didn't feel like being stuck alone with the dreadful Claudine. "I'm sure she's fine. She's simply been dieting too much or she decided to be dramatic. You know how dramatic teenagers can be."

"It didn't look like an act to me," Claudine observed. "Her face was almost as green as the guacamole. There's something wrong with that girl."

"Tiffany is as healthy as a horse. I should know. I raised her by myself for at least a year."

"You're a regular Mother Theresa," Claudine said. "No wonder Brad always speaks so highly of you."

Mavis looked at Claudine, pleased. "Brad speaks highly of me?"

"I was being sarcastic, Mavis. Actually, whenever Brad has talked about you he either gets a migraine or becomes nauseous. I'm beginning to see why. You must be one of the most vain and shallow women I've ever met."

"Why, how dare you speak to me that way! I've been a splendid mother to both Brad and Tyler!"

"That's why Tyler is afraid of his own shadow and why Brad left home and didn't speak to you for over a year. I'm still not sure why Brad came back here. Your home is a monument to crass commercialism."

"And you are a monument to the defunct hippie movement that passed about forty years ago! Claudine, in case you haven't noticed, money is what makes the world go 'round. There's nothing crass about that but if you think the Schuyler family is so disgusting, you know where the door is."

"I happen to be in love with your son in spite of his background. And he's in love with me. We're going to get married and I'm going to change him into the man that I know he can be."

"Oh, for Pete's sake! You honestly think that you can change someone by marrying him? Wake up, honey! Brad is a Schuyler through and through and he's not going to change for you!"

The granite gaze in Claudine's eyes grew a little harder. "That's what you think, Mavis. Give me six months and Brad will be a completely different person."

Mavis laughed. "You two won't last six weeks. I'll bet Schuyler Manor on it."

"You're on. I will bet you the title to this mausoleum that Brad and I will still be together in six months."

"And what do I get when I win?" Mavis questioned.

"Why, you get your baby boy back, Mavis. Isn't that what you want?"