Page 236 - And the Mountains Echoed (novel)

even as I sense that the anger I feel toward her may really be a mask for my envy

over her succeeding at it all better than I had.
I toss the newspaper. If Thalia is going to find out, it won’t be from me.

Mamá pushed the carrot shavings off the table with a knife and

collected them in a bowl. She loathed it when people wasted food. She would
make a jar of marmalade with the shavings.
“Well, you have a big decision to make, Thalia,” she said.
Thalia surprised me by turning to me and saying, “What would you do,
Markos?”

“Oh, I know what he would do,” Mamá said quickly.
“I would go,” I said, answering Thalia, looking at Mamá, taking satisfaction
in playing the insurrectionist that Mamá thought I was. Of course I meant it too.
I couldn’t believe Thalia would even hesitate. I would have leapt at the chance.
A private education. In London.
“You should think about it,” Mamá said.
“I already have,” Thalia said hesitantly. Then, even more hesitant, as she
raised her eyes to meet Mamá’s, “But I don’t want to assume.”

Mamá put down the knife. I heard a faint expulsion of breath. Had she been
holding it? If so, her stoic face betrayed no sign of relief. “The answer is yes. Of
course it’s yes.”
Thalia reached across the table and touched Mamá’s wrist. “Thank you, Aunt
Odie.”

“I’ll only say this once,” I said. “I think this is a mistake. You’re both making
a mistake.”
They turned to look at me.
“Do you want me to go, Markos?” Thalia said.
“Yes,” I said. “I’d miss you, a lot, and you know that. But you can’t pass up a
private school education. You’d go to university afterward. You could become a
researcher, a scientist, a professor, an inventor. Isn’t that what you want? You’re
the smartest person I know. You could be anything you want.”

I broke off.
“No, Markos,” Thalia said heavily. “No I couldn’t.”
She said this with a thudding finality that sealed off all channels of rebuttal.