Straightjacket by Meredith Towbin Read Free Book Online Page A

a moment, the muscles in his face suddenly relaxed. He nodded his head once and offered her a slight smile.
    She was stunned. He had just witnessed her weakness, but he didn’t turn his head away in disgust, thinking she was pathetic. He didn’t hate her for letting herself be manipulated. Maybe somehow he could understand. No one had ever known what her life was like, what it was really like. Everything had always been hidden. But Caleb knew her secret now—had chosen to know—and he didn’t blame her.
    She felt like crying from the relief of being discovered. Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. But it was more than that. Strangely, something stirred inside of her at the sight of him, something that hadn’t been there before. She didn’t know what it was or where it came from, but she felt it so strongly that the only thing she wanted to do was run across the room and talk to him and make the feeling stronger.
    “Anyway,” her mother said, trying to reclaim Anna’s attention, “you would not believe what happened with Joyce yesterday.” She was pretending that nothing had happened, as she tended to do. Her father had returned to the dull glow of the television.
    “She’s having a dinner party this weekend that she felt she needed to mention to me even though we’re not invited.” She was speaking to both of them, but her father’s eyes were still fixed on the television. “She said she’s having all the doctors in Jack’s practice over.” She said the word doctors like she was cursing. “I told her I didn’t know why she couldn’t include us. It’s not like your father’s a factory worker or something. He’s a dentist, for God’s sake. She made it quite clear that we’re not in that social circle. I don’t know who she thinks she is. Just because you’re not a doctor we’re not good enough?” Her voice dripped with venom.
    Her father breathed a low hmm .
    “Well, aren’t you insulted?”
    “Yeah, yeah. I don’t know who she thinks she is.” His face was deadpan as he spoke, and the words came out blandly. He peered back into the television.
    “That’s it for her,” she continued. “I’m sick of this. I told her not to bother to call me again. They’re all a bunch of snobs.”
    This didn’t surprise Anna. It wasn’t the first time one of her mother’s friendships had ended badly. She had a way of cutting people out of her life the second she thought they betrayed her. She could hold a grudge for years. She would expertly dispose of traitors, skillfully cutting them out of her life like a surgeon removing a tumor. Part of her wished that her mother would do it to her.
    She continued to ramble on about random things that Anna couldn’t care less about. She didn’t mind that Anna didn’t respond and her husband only grunted an occasional hmm . After half an hour, the credits to the television program her father was engrossed in rolled by on the screen.
    “Okay.” He sighed. “Let’s go.”
    “Walter, please don’t be so rude,” her mother replied, yet stood up all the same. Anna followed suit. Her father flipped his index finger up, as if he were calling over a waiter, and Carlene came over immediately.
    “This way,” Carlene said, ready to take them back down the hall.
    “Just a minute.” Her mother leaned over to whisper in Anna’s ear. “Just so we’re all on the same page, I told everyone you went to visit your aunt in Maine for the summer before you head off to Wellesley.” She gave her a peck on the cheek. Her father was already on his way out of the room, right behind Carlene.
    Anna trailed behind them. Her mother’s heels clicked against the floor as she headed down the hallway, trailing her husband by a couple of feet. A few moments later, the locks of the unit doors snapped open.
    “Bye,” Anna said dryly. Her parents disappeared through the double doors, and then she was alone again.
    The strain of what just happened had taken its toll. Weak and tired,