FICTION

THE VISIT

Eileen - PA.

Marie was just returning from picking up the morning mail. In her arms she clasped the bulk of it, but she was tearing open one particular envelope. With a worried expression on her face she read the contents.

"Oh, no, Bill, my parents are coming!"

"Really.

•

why I thought that they agreed to let you live alone while you attended college?"

"But they're coming and if they find out about you..."

Marie really had a reason to worry. We had been dating through three years of college and now in our fourth year we had decided that we wanted to try a test marriage. So we had set up housekeeping together in a lovely apartment in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where we were both attending the University of Pennsylvania. We planned to marry as soon as we had completed our college, but the intent wouldn't be enough to satisfy her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were from the midwest and they probably would have beer, upset if we were only dating regularly. The thought of us living together would probably prelude a wholesale dragging of Marie back to Indiana.

"You're just going to have to get out of here for a while. I hate to throw you out of our home but . . .”

"That's probably the best thing, they should be gone by the weekend, and everything will go back to normal.”