Free Magnet & Steele by Trisha Fuentes

salt.
     
    At the checkout stand, Nancy with
her cart full of food and three different choices of corn began to
unload her items onto the rolling counter when she caught a glimpse
of a magazine ad that read: “Luccardi’s Fine Italian Cuisine –
Delizioso – Five Locations To Serve You!”
     
    Nancy reached for the magazine and
ran her fingertips across the ad. Under her breath, she said,
“Luccardi’s…that’s the second time I’ve seen that name.”
     
    The check-out girl heard her and
responded, “Oh, I love that restaurant, they have really great food
there, have you been there before?”
     
    Nancy was still in some kind of daze
when she looked up at the strange girl. “What?” And then she shook
her head as she continued to gaze down at the colorful magazine.
“Oh, no, I haven’t. Is it really all that good?”
     
    “Oh yeah…my husband took me there
for our anniversary last year, they have the best cannoli!” The
check-out girl gushed, punching in the prices on the cash register
above her chest.
     
    Nancy watched the girl as she
expertly grabbed an item and then without looking at the numbers on
her register, punched in the numbers on the label and into the
console. “Well, then I will just have to check it out myself,” she
said, now watching the box boy packing her groceries up for
her.
     
    This was her life now, grocery
shopping for a lonely household, with both her eldest children gone
from her house; she only cooked for three and no longer five. When
the children were little, she was at least grateful that she had
them to occupy her monotonous time. She rejoiced when Stephen was
at work and she could be left alone during the day to go and visit
her friend Kelly, but now she had no friends in California with any
small children to look after, only Francine, who, in her own
strange way was a comfort to her when she got home from school.
Nancy looked forward when her daughter would step through their
front door now. She looked forward to seeing her face and talking
to someone other than her reflection or her husband’s unresponsive
attitude.
     
    As of late, she felt restless; her
life was in the doldrums. She’s been a housewife for so long with
nothing to do and never felt useful. She felt so unappreciated
lately and wanted to scream if anyone would listen. Her life, thus
far, had not been what she imagined it would be.
     
    She did make that call to Mr.
Madestry in 1945, and he did have a secretary—her name was
Meredith—and Nancy did set up that appointment to come in that week
to see him, she even went on a photo shoot and took a few pictures
for a magazine ad for Catalina swimwear, and later that week, she
did meet with Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios and Mr. Mayer
was interested in her, in fact, he seemed excited about her and she
even read a few scripts and he promised her a bit part as a dancer
in an upcoming movie called the “Ziegfeld Follies” starring Fred
Astaire, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams
and Lena Horne, oh, the list went on and on! Mr. Mayer even sent
her to a few dance classes to help her learn how to tap and
properly kick her leg, even to a few ballet lessons to be trained
on improving her posture and arm strength, but her big break was
quickly obliterated by the understanding that she wasn’t even
allowed to day-dream anymore and all her hard work was then
anchored to an auburn-haired nightmare named Stephen
Steele.
     
    Since the day her father forced her
to marry Stephen, Nancy has felt like she’s been running besides
herself trying to catch up to any sort of dream. When her children
were little they would occupy her time with their immediate needs.
Now that they were older she didn’t know what to do. Does she find
a new hobby? Learn to needle-point; knit a new sweater? Learn how
to play golf? Ride a horse? Join a book club or pottery class?
Should she start up dance lessons again? Contact MGM? Were they
casting a middle-aged