Commentaire Trick or Treat

This extract is a passage from a short story by the American writer David Sedaris. This short story is entitled Holidays on Ice and this passage reads in the form of an annual newsletter, something Americans are used to sending to their relatives at the end of the year to let them know about the important events that occurred throughout the year.

The author, David Sedaris, is a writer but he’s also an anchorman and he was even named “Humorist of the year” by Time Magazine in 2001.

The author of this annual newsletter is Mrs Dunbar who relates, without some anger, the unexpected arrival in her own house, of her husband’s illegitimate daughter, on Halloween night.
A veteran from Vietnam, Mr Dunbar had somehow forgotten to mention to his wife this episode of his life!

The tone of the letter is very sarcastic but also very funny … starting with the first words of the letter QUOTE lines 1-5)

To start with, let us speak about Mrs Dunbar’s family.
This family is made up of Mrs Dunbar, the author of the newsletter and also the narrator, her husband, Mr Clifford Dunbar and their three children.

We don’t know much about this family except that Mr Dunbar fought in the Vietnam war as an American trooper (QUOTE lines 9/11/14) and that he was married twice : once to Doll Babcock and then to Mrs Dunbar.
His marriage to Doll was celebrated shortly after he came back from the war and didn’t last long (QUOTE lines 15/16).
As for Mrs Dunbar, Clifford married her after divorcing Doll.
It would be hard to say that their marriage was a bed of roses. Indeed, it seems that their relationship was mostly one-way at the beginning since Mrs Dunbar wasn’t Clifford’s first choice as a wife. Then, we can guess that it was quite difficult for them to get a good and comfortable life because they were not well-off at the beginning of their union and they had to struggle to make it and buy a house (QUOTE lines 16-22)
Now they seem to lead a quiet