She’s naked. Tomorrow, she thinks, a man will see my body. She is happy with the way she looks. There’s nothing she would change. Jill sits in the third row at the Merrimack Cinema, watching Lady and the Tramp. It was the only movie her mother could find that didn’t have any sex. “We’d be footloose and collar-free,” says Tramp, who has just asked Lady to run away with him. “It sounds wonderful,” says Lady. “But who’d watch over the baby?” Reg leans toward Jill. Doris has just reminded him that they’ve got to put some meat on those bones. He is about to say, “How about another box of buttered popcorn?” but then he sees the look on her face. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ve seen this before. Everything turns out fine in the end.” Tonight Sandy’s mother has prepared Luau Chicken with pineapple chunks, Rice-A-Roni, Chinese Style, and Stouffer’s egg rolls. She tries to make it so their weekly family dinners with the kids have some kind of theme. (Everything tinted with green food coloring—even the mashed potatoes—on Saint Patrick’s Day.
