A Compliment to the Novel, "Ordinary People"

The lunchroom that they met in was cold, much too cold for December at least, and Beth pulls her cashmere coat tightly around her small frame. It was a gift from Cal, two years ago. A Christmas present, she remembered. God, won't someone turn on the heat in here? Wait, no Beth, don't ask, it makes you look needy. No, she'd rather be cold than complain to these people. They'd beckon to her wish, of course, because no one wants to upset Beth. They think I'm unstable. She hated that part the most. She didn't cry, because that makes her vulnerable, weak. She shuddered. She may have thought it was because she was cold, but in the back of her mind she know that she only shuddered at the word weak.
Carole Lazenby, PTA mommy-of-the-year, called the attention all the parents, who were in little cells, some chatting about knitting or the weather, some eating Nancy Hanley's delicious hors-d'ourves. They were just cheese puffs, Beth thought, the classic white trash, PTA, middle of America food. I'm too good for cheese puffs. …