In the dining room Bruce, who was most always quiet in the company of strangers, provided polite, short answers to Kathy’s dad who took an interest in all the young men Kathy brought home.
“I’m majoring in social science,” Bruce told him when asked what he was studying at the university where he and Kathy had met.
“Social science? That’s what left-wingers take, isn’t it? If you can’t study engineering or pre-med you’re wasting your time and money, I’d say. Maybe you can still go to law school. What are your plans?”
Kathy could hear the interrogation going on from the kitchen. Her mind wandered. She remembered how her mother had told her when she was starting high school that she’d always have boyfriends because she was a pretty girl with a good figure as long as she didn’t let it go. Then her mom added how fortunate that was since Kathy had little personality to speak of.
Kathy didn’t understand what her mother meant until years later. Looking back she now thought how unfair and incomplete her mother’s assessment was. After all, she had a pretty good head on her shoulders and the discipline to study business and finance—she’d made Dean’s List every semester since enrolling at State University.
Still, she worried now what Bruce thought about her personality.