OUR FAMILY, sometimes called Parenting Incorporated, has had a return engagement with the opera, final score being Figaro 1, Family 0. The result was the same in our 1991 match. This year’s was slightly different in that the daughter is now 12 in- stead of 11. Those blessed with good memo- ries cannot fail to recall the excep- tional development of our sophistication during that 12- month period of our lives. So, this time, no contest of wills about the wearing of torn jeans and T-shirts that change color with body temperature. Instead, she appeared arrayed in a dress and with her hair swept and bound in the fashion of a lady in a Bronte novel. Alas, any man has one instir- mountable problem when he looks into the innocent eyes of a 12- year-old girl. You can never tell what they are thinking. This became evident at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre when she- wanted to pack out her Sony Walkman. If Mozart failed to measure up to her expectations, an event that seemed ever move probable, she would listen to the Sony. It would be turned low so that people around us would hardly know that she was listening to Madonna. This might have led to a nasty scene, but fortunately she forgot about the Sony when her attention was distracted by the dress of a lady getting out of the nearby sta- tion wagon. It is hard to recall what that lady wore. It was hard to follow the description whiie it was being offered in loud whispers. The Paul St. Pierre PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES message was clear. Her dress was offensive. Some of us men live a surpris- ing number of years before we learn that women, whatever their age, do not dress to attract men. Their purpose is to repel other women. “Never mind the dresses. This lime we’re going to understand the story before the singing starts, because that’s what opera is, a story told to music." “ET know. It's about Tuliette.”* “It is not about Jufieice. It is about Figaro.”’ “I know that one. We saw it last year.’* “Last year’s was Rossini’s, this year it’s Mozart's. He is supposed to be better. I guess he practised more."” She sighed and cast her eyes to heaven for help, as she often does when adults fail to appreciate the world in the way 12-year-olds do. ““Now listen, it’s all here in the synopsis: Figaro and Susanna are going to be inarried. OK? But Dr. Bartolo, who used to be guardian of the Countess of Almaviva, has a grudge against Figaro. “*He finds out that the house- keeper, Marcellina, has a contract, signed by Figaro, stipulating that if he fails to pay money that he owes her he will have te marry her. “