I told Kurt what I was doing. He agreed with Rudy. “Just get it all out on paper first,” he said. Julia and Charlotte weren’t happy. Their mom had locked herself in the office—their playroom!—to write or have intense, muffled phone conversations with friends. Charlotte didn’t understand what was going on. But I overheard Julia say to Kurt, “Why is Mommy so upset about a stupid, old book?” What could he say? I just thought back to that night at Charlotte’s preschool, and how I had resolved right then that they would someday understand exactly why I was so upset. “As a little girl I worshipped Tony Hendra, my father,” I began. He was—and still is—brilliant, funny, and charismatic, as demonstrated by his involvement with the National Lampoon and Spy magazines, as well as the cult movie This Is Spinal Tap. If I had not loved him as much as I did, what happened to me might never have happened. And I doubt that I would have kept silent for the past thirty-two years.
What do You think about How To Cook Your Daughter?
