4IV FICTION CLASSICS

beginning.

Bob and I have been friends for the longest time. We both live on Sweet Street in a very small town in New York. We went through Grammar School and High School together and we're both 23 years old now but Bob hasn't grown as fast as I have and has a small frame. As a matter of fact he is just about as tall as my wife, Dot. Now we both work at the local commuter airline: Swifter Air. I work in the shop and Bob is a reservation clerk. Dot also works for Swifter as a stewardess.

Bob Winters hasn't had an easy time of it. His father died when he was 10 years old and left his mother with very little money. He married very young to Naomi, who was sickly so Bob had to work at extra jobs to try and make ends meet. Every cent he earned went towards Naomi's doctor bills. He was always able to get little jobs after work, because he's very nice, well mannered, unassuming and pretty handsome, too. Also, everyone in our little town knew him and wanted to help.

I guess Bob's troubles started about two years ago, when he was 21. Because of the rough time they had financially, his mother-in-law proposed to move in with them. That would help financially and she could also assist in the household chores as Naomi became weaker and weaker and under doctor's care almost all of the time. So his mother-in-law, Mary, really took charge.

Bob didn't like her much. She's a widow, doesn't seem to care much for the male half of the population and is rather bossy. On top of that she is a real feminist, believing in equality of the sexes and all that. That wasn't Bob's only handicap. His mother-inlaw was a personal friend of the president of our airline. Because Swifter Air is a low budget operation, she doubled as personnel director and taught the stewardess class as well. You know how hard it is for someone related to management to be just one of the guys at work. When something bad happens, the guys always

SUBSTITUTE DAUGHTER -5

suspect that he might be an informer. It was only because Bob was such a nice kid and well liked by everyone that he managed to keep his friendly relations with the guys. Later on, most of the men began to feel sorry for him. That was good, because now he wasn't kidded too much about the things that happened to him at work and at home. Anyway, I soon let it be known that I would punch anyone in the nose who was nasty to my best friend. I was on the football team and could best anyone at work except maybe some of the teamsters.

Bob and I lived across the street from each other and we were always running into each other's houses, walked to work together and often did our gardening at the same time. Bob once had a crush on Dot, who also liked him a lot. They had dated a few times before we were married.

Now that I have "set the stage," as my teacher calls it, I can get on with the story. I feel that compulsion my Dad mentioned: I'll put Bob's problems on paper, because it seems the only thing that I can do.

When I asked my wife what we could do to help Bob, she said that we couldn't and shouldn't interfere with other people's lives and households. It was certainly not my place to talk to Bob's mother-in-law, however, I've noticed that my wife is very kind to Bob and goes out of her way to make him feel better and help him adjust to his new life. He says that he wants to stay near his wife to comfort her whenever he can. Too bad Bob isn't the type to run away. That's what I would have done...a long time ago.

Anyway, it all started about a month after Bob's mother-in-law, Mary arrived, settled in at her position at Swift Air and made herself at home in Bob's house. Bob had just turned 21. I remember that Naomi had tried to give a little birthday party for him. Bob had to buy the refreshments and beer with his own lunch money, that's how hard up they were, but we had a good time anyway.

During our walks to work Bob had told me that it was not easy to live with Mary in the house and it