...they wouldn't think anything was wrong with their being naked."
It appeared that they were all about to start screaming, but my wish quickly changed that. After a brief pause in the discussion, during which I guess they felt pretty disoriented, they picked up right where they stopped.
This was pretty good, I thought. They were all naked and didn't know it. But my mother was still naked. She was still fairly young, only about 35, but she was my mother. Knowing I didn't have to say it out loud, I wish that she was clothed and no one would take notice of the change.
All of the other woman in my mother's group were aged anywhere from 27-36. They had all come together as a group because of one common factor: They had all been in bad relationships of some kind. My mother had been abandoned by the man who was my father when she got pregnant. It's not easy getting pregnant when you're 18 after all.
Mrs. Janson, only 33, had one failed marriage but had now remarried and seemed to be doing well. She stayed involved in the group because she liked to help the others and show that they could rebound in due time. Ms. Gabrielli, just 28, had been abused by her ex. She immediately filed for divorce and had him thrown in jail. She moved far away so he wouldn't find her, even though he was in jail for another 8 years.
Going around the rest of the room I saw Mrs. Flemington, the oldest of the group at 36 and twice divorced; Mrs. Priven, 30, never married but several bad relationships; Mrs. Wells, 29, divorced once; Mrs. Vranch, 27, also divorced once; Mrs. Sheridan, 32, divorced twice; and Mrs. Sassoon, 34, three failed long-term relationships.
I thought it odd that most all of them called themselves "Mrs." But I guess that they wouldn't say that to a guy. Now that I had them all naked, what to do with them?