When she opened her eyes the edges of her vision blurred and she grabbed the seat under her to steady herself. The small room looked to be tilting from one side to the other. She squeezed her eyes shut again and tried to slow her breathing. There was a faint ringing in her ears and she could hear the faraway voices of the party two floors below. When she opened her eyes a second time the blurriness had cleared. She looked over at the towel and smiled at the lipstick mark Grandma Kurtz would yell about later, long after all her guests had gone. She felt a hiccup of giggle in her throat. Then Charlotte was calling up the stairs after her, and she stood quickly, smoothing her dress and the stray hairs around her face. In the mirror she rubbed Fire & Ice from her dentures and from the edges of her lips.

When she reappeared downstairs in the parlor with Charlotte, Ruby came at her with a small plate of cake and a fork. “Vivy, did you hear about the lady who might be running for mayor of Wooster? Are you feeling okay? You look pale. Charlotte, honey, there’s more cake in the kitchen.”

This was how Ruby offered comfort, and Vivian appreciated it. She accepted the cake and fork and shot a quick look around the rooms. She could see her mother near the kitchen and her father next to the picture window, talking to Henry and his awful wife, Norma. Awful in the way that she was just so prim-and-pretty perfect, and had been lucky enough to snag Henry for a husband.

“Vivy?”

“Hmm?” She looked at Ruby. “Lady running for Wooster mayor?”

“Yes!” Ruby clapped her hands together. “She went to Apple Creek High School, so you wouldn’t have known her. She had to drop out, but sakes alive if she didn’t get right back into it after her kids went there.”

Vivian had poked the fork gently into the cake and pried off a corner of the piece.

“Can you imagine it? Mayor Sylvia!”

“Sylvia?” Vivian repeated, letting the name settle properly on her tongue. “Sylvia Emerich?”

“Why, yes!” Ruby was thrilled that Vivian knew who she was talking about. “It’s not Emerich anymore, though, it’s Yoder. You know, she married that sweet farmer.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “He, uh, got her into trouble, you know. That’s why she had to leave school.”

The farmer takes a wife. The farmer takes a wife. Eeeeeeeee!

When Vivian got home after the party she removed her pumps at the front door, hung her coat and hat in the closet, and stomped straight up to the little attic room, leaving Charlotte to bring in the plate they’d brought the banana bread on, and to lock the car and close the garage. Vivian closed the door to the room, and then sat and cried over the typewriter for a half hour, before she eventually dried her eyes and then began to hammer away at the keys.