Alouette

Abstract

In the months since her mechanical-engineer husband confessed to cheating on her, twentysomething Lenore has moved back in with her parents, gotten a job as a barista, and reconnected with her best friend from college, Vicky. Profoundly depressed by the failure of her marriage, she has also visited a psychiatrist in an attempt to make sense of the mess her life has become. While slogging through a work shift one rainy Saturday, she reminisces about her relationship with her now-ex and their only child, seven-year-old Thomas, and reflects on how her life has been negatively affected by economic instability and her decision to marry and have a child at a young age. When her shift ends, Lenore walks to a bar where she and Vicky have agreed to meet for drinks. In a conversation interspersed with Lenore's recollections of her relationship with Vicky, they discuss Lenore's divorce at length. Fearing that she will cry if they continue, Lenore asks Vicky about her studies and is stunned to hear that Vicky, a lifelong overachiever with a boatload of degrees, has resorted to waitressing to survive. They hold hands in a small but meaningful attempt to comfort one another. Silence falling, Lenore's thoughts turn to the way in which people conceal their true thoughts and feelings behind a mask of normalcy.