"Sure… sure… sure… bye…"
Martha had rationalized her lurid fantasies of a couple of days before by blaming Frank for them. If her husband took better care of her, she would not have to day dream about young boys with attractive smiles. She would not feel starved for little gestures that showed her she was beautiful or that she was worthy of love. She would not be blushing like a schoolgirl when a schoolboy grinned at her.
Her resentment against her husband made her stubborn. Instead of making other arrangements to get to the dentist, she would sit at home and wait for Frank to pick her up. When he did not show up, she would be angry about missing her appointment. She would let him know she was angry. The pale blonde decided it was time she started showing Frank she was not a household fixture to be ignored or pushed around whenever he felt like it.
She only hoped she would have the courage to carry out her plan. She was sick and tired of feeling like a non-person.
At two-thirty there was no sign of Frank. But there came a knock at the front door just at the point when Martha had decided to take off her good dress. She was shocked to discover that her escort was the same dark-haired boy who had offered to see her to her car at the school gym.
Nervously, she reached up to smooth her ponytail into place. She knew she did not look so pretty as she had the other day. She regretted that she had not taken more trouble with her appearance. There had seemed no point, when only Frank and her sixty-year-old dentist would be seeing her. She had never expected to see the handsome black-haired boy again.
"Steve, isn't it?" She tried to keep her manner casual. The thought that the boy might detect her excitement terrified her. "Please come in."
"The coach sent me to drive you to the dentist's, Mrs. Roy. I've got his car waiting out front."
"Oh… Oh." Again Martha smoothed her hair. She smoothed, down the folds of her pale green dress. It was hard for her to think. "Well, that's very nice of you, Steve. I guess I'm all ready."