Steve had turned to a true male chauvinist. To him, women were inferior to men; they were different in a manner of intellect; they were not as smart as men; and their mission in life was to inspire men to achieve their goals, rather than to attain themselves.
Every step Helen took towards relieving herself from obligation this bondage and captivity had brought her, added to her weakness and debasement as an individual! She began to see clearly and to apprehend the deeper propensity of life! She was no longer content to feed upon opinion of people who knew her, while her soul yearned the tendency to get her former zest for life back!
When Elizabeth was born on May, twenty seven, 1969, exactly a year to the date from the birth of her son with Jacob, Steve told her in a manner as if he was asking for food or something simple:
"You're going to quit your job! I don't want my baby to go to daycare or have a nanny!"
Helen thought for a moment. Her teaching was all she had. It was her soul, she loved it! It was not because that was the only chance she had to get out of the house, or she needed the money; it was because all her life she wanted to be a teacher. She had turned earth and sky to get her degrees in order to become a teacher. Nonetheless, she said simply to Steve's demand:
"Yes, you're right!"
It was with wrench and pang that she left her career; that she wrote a letter of resignation. She carried away with her the voices of her students, the touch of her desk, the smell of the board and chalk. All along, driving home from this chain of serfdom, obeying Steve, she carried with her the memory of the only three semesters she had taught! The faces of her students, the campus, the old trees in it, the different buildings, the rooms, everything she could bring up to her mind, lingered with her like the memory of a beautiful song that one kept murmuring it without being aware of it. By the time she got home, the song was no longer echoed in her soul or mind! She was again alone!!
To Be Continued
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