Newlyweds by Jenny Melnick

Author’s note: This story was really difficult to write. I realized I knew nothing about everyday life in the 1960s, especially how women were expected to act, and so I found myself summarizing a lot. I found it really difficult to give anyone a personality because I wasn’t sure how what they did would fit into the time period. I think a lot of the comments the mother is making are too shallow or obviously mean, but I couldn’t figure out how to create other moments that would be more appropriate. I also think the pacing is really slow, but I’m not sure what to change to fix that. I couldn’t figure out a good ending, and I think the way it is now seems too abrupt. I wanted to focus more on the early relationship between Eddie and Stan as well, but the relationship between her and the mother in law seemed to take over completely. The ending is full of problems, I know. I wasn’t sure how to end it, and I knew that there was going to be so much revision already so I just ended it.  

Newlyweds

Stanley turned right off of the main drag and started down a long, narrow road. This was the first time Eddie had been to his parents’ house. They lived ten miles from town, five miles past the new housing development that was being built. The billboard had a blonde woman wearing an apron on it and said, “New homes! Affordable! Buy now!” Stan had joked that they ought to buy and settle there, to be close to his parents. She let out a “ha-ha” sort of laugh in response. The road they were on was full of holes, and Eddie kept bouncing up and down in her seat. She reached back behind her and put on her seatbelt. Stan slowed down. Fall was her favorite season. She grew up in the southern part of Florida, where there weren’t really seasons, and seeing the colors of the changing leaves was her favorite part of coming up to the panhandle.  The trees on either side of the road were tall, and the forest behind was thick. Even though all of the leaves were on the ground, making up a thick orange carpet, she could barely see more than a few feet in.

            “And we’re here,” Stan said as they turned off of the dirt road onto a smaller dirt road, which she took to be the driveway. She thought she could see a few other colors poking through the trees, and all of a sudden they emerged into a fully developed neighborhood. There were rows of houses evenly spaced apart in varying colors. Blues, yellows, pinks and whites. Some children were playing in the front yards and in the streets. Eddie wondered how they all survived so far away from society.

            Stan pulled up to a blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac. It looked like his brother and her wife had just arrived. The trunk of their car was open and their luggage was sitting on the driveway. Stan’s brother, Rob, was a few years older than him and had gotten married the year before Eddie and Stan started dating. Her name was Ally. She was that perfect height right between average and short, and her hair was blonde and fluffy, almost like a cloud.

            “Stanley!” his mother yelled as he parked and got out of the car. She practically ran over to hug him, walking past Eddie without a second glance. Her name was Helen, and Eddie always got the feeling that she didn’t like her. She was a short woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes that, when Eddie had a little too much to drink, she swore they could see into the depths of your soul.  This was the first weekend she will spend with Stan’s whole family. They had only been married for a few months, and since they met in college in south Florida she had never been up here. They were at the wedding of course, and they had all eaten dinner together, but she had never spent any prolonged time with them.

            “Edna,” she said, looking over at her from across the car. “My, you have filled out since we last saw you at the wedding. You look fabulous.” Eddie felt her neck and cheeks begin to blush. She hadn’t even gained any weight. Stan seemed oblivious to the ways his mother treated Eddie. She looked to him, but he was just smiling. Ally walked over to give her a hug. “Welcome to the family,” she said. This was going to be a long Thanksgiving.

            The men gathered up the luggage and went inside. The house wasn’t small, but it was no mansion. There were three bedrooms upstairs. This was the home Stanley grew up in, and they were staying in his old bedroom. It only had a twin-sized bed, so there was a small air mattress set up on the floor, not leaving much room to walk around. They would be sharing a bathroom with Rob and Ally. The walls were covered in posters of baseball players and cars. Eddie had never been one for sports, but she recognized one or two names. His trophies from high school baseball and football lined the top of the dresser.

            The rest of the house was what you would expect. Family photos lined the hallways and the boys’ school photos covered the staircase, a higher grade with each stair. The living room was covered in green. Green shag carpet with matching wallpaper. The kitchen was covered with wood cabinets and floral wallpaper. The dining room was a rich red color with a dark wood table. There was a glass hutch that kept all of their china and crystal and a family portrait on the opposite wall.  

            Dinner was uneventful. The women sat on one end of the table and the men sat on the other, with Mr. and Mrs. Harris at each end. They talked about the different recipes Mrs. Harris would use for the thanksgiving and which magazines she got them from, while the men discussed politics. Eddie would have much rather been involved in their discussion.

            After the dinner the men smoked and had drinks. Eddie helped a slightly drunk Stan up to bed, trying not to make too much noise, since Mrs. Harris had gone to bed earlier. She tried not to disrupt the bathroom too much, putting back everything she way she found it.

            The next day, the women planned to go to the grocery store together. Eddie thought it unwise to leave the shopping for the meal until the day before, but it was too late to change that now, and she was sure that if she said that Mrs. Harris would fire back a perfectly acceptable reason for waiting. 

            Eddie and Stan were in charge of cooking dinner that night. Stan insisted that they do fondue. He said it was a tradition they started while he was in high school. She hadn’t ever done it before, but had seen it on TV. The women split up once inside, each with a different list. Eddie had her own ingredients to buy, along with those that Mrs. Harris gave her. She quickly put blocks of cheese into her cart, along with different vegetables and meats. Then she went over to the baking section to buy the ingredients for the flour. The store was unfamiliar to her, so she ended up walking the wrong way to the other end of the store, where she ran into Stanley’s mom.

“Why would the baking supplies be near the deli? Obviously it’s by the bread.” Eddie thanked her, and walked away cursing under her breath. Of course, the items on the list were as general as possible. It said to get flour, but there were two different brands. She chose the one to the left, picked up a can of pie filling and met the other women at the front.

“You chose this type of flour? What, were you raised in a barn?” Mrs. Harris said, holding up the bag.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie said, angry. “You didn’t specify a brand—”

“I didn’t think I’d have to. I’ll be back, you girls go ahead and check out.” Eddie took a deep breath so she didn’t blurt out something she would regret, and Ally patted her on the shoulder. They finished quickly, and while they were waiting towards the door with their purchases, an employee walked up and asked if they needed any help. “Oh no,” Eddie answered him, “we are just waiting on Mrs. Harris—”

“Mrs. Harris?” She breathed, out of breath. “The way you talk you would think we weren’t family! Edna, you know to call me Mom.” She put her arm around Eddie and squeezed, like she was hugging her. Mrs. Harris had never said anything like that. In fact, she had introduced herself to Eddie’s family at the wedding as “Mrs. Harris.” She could only call her Mom, she thought, if she thought of her as an evil stepmother. She pictured her wearing Maleficent’s outfit from the recent Disney movie and relaxed.

That afternoon, Eddie worked hard in the kitchen preparing dinner. Stan had spent all day with his dad and brother, hardly paying her any attention. Mrs. Harris, or Mom, as she was now to call her, had been hovering over Eddie all day. She had given Eddie the recipe for her famous fondue cheese (which was just blocks of Velveeta cheese) and watched her from the small kitchen table. Eddie had taken special care to fix her hair that morning, but now there were flyaways and stray hairs all over her face.

Eddie miscalculated the time for how long the chicken pieces would take to cook, and so dinner was about thirty minutes late.

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” Mrs. Harris said as they sat down. Eddie had set all of the different meats and vegetables on the table in different serving platters. Eddie sat down last and noticed Mrs. Harris looking around the table. “Mom,” she said. It still felt foreign on her tongue. “Can I get you something?”

“Where is the bread?” she asked. Eddie’s heart sank.

“We don’t usually have bread when we do fondue,” she replied. Everyone else around the table tensed up, looking to Mrs. Harris.

“Surely you checked with Stanley and he told you that bread was my favorite.”

“No, I didn’t. I wish you would have said something. I would have made it if I’d known.”

“Well,” she said smoothing out her napkin. “It’s no matter now.” Eddie stabbed her chicken with her stick more forcefully than she needed to.

            After dinner she pretended she didn’t feel well so Stan would go up to bed with her early.

            “Your mother hates me.”

            “She’s just particular,” he replied. He was lying down in his bed reading a book.

            “Stanley, have you heard the things she’s been saying to me?”

He put the book down. “She’s just stressed. There’s a lot of people staying here.”

“She’s always been like that,” Eddie insisted. “Do you remember our wedding? She criticized everything.”

“She just wanted us to have the best.” Eddie reached over and turned out the light. “She’s my mom, Eddie. Try to be nice.”

“I will if she does.”

Mrs. Harris put Eddie and Ally to work all day cooking. Mr. Harris took care of the turkey, and Stan and Rob watched football all day. Mrs. Harris had put out snacks around lunchtime, and they were gone before Eddie had the chance to eat any.

When all they had left to make were Mrs. Harris’ famous mashed potatoes, she kicked them both out of the kitchen. A little while later Eddie realized she forgot her glass of water, so she went back in. She figured she couldn’t see anything too revealing, since she probably just got done boiling the potatoes, but when pushed open the door she saw Mrs. Harris pulling out a steaming container from the microwave.

Seeing Eddie, she gasped and tried to stand in front of them.

            “Why are you pulling potatoes out of the microwave?”

            “I told you to stay out of the kitchen.” Neither woman moved.

            “So that’s your ‘special recipe?’ Frozen?” Eddie moved closer to her, and she raised her chin and looked her in the eye. “Do they know?”

            “No.”

            For the first time, Eddie finally had the upper hand. She thought of all the comments she had made all week, the way she had been humiliated. But instead of blackmailing her, Eddie touched her arm and said, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”  Mrs. Harris breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

            They all sat down to eat, Eddie sitting next to Mrs. Harris. Mr. Harris said the blessing and they began eating.

            “Eddie, would you please pass the potatoes?” Mrs. Harris asked.

            Eddie smiled. “Of course.”