One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

'He knew that, while he was away, women friends of Laura's and their children had come and gone continually, for a few weeks, three months, a year or so.  They had eaten light snacks off trays, used the telephone practically without paying for it, shared the work, and night and day filled the air with the dull, frivolous yatter which passes for female conversation.'

Stephen Marshall has returned home after the war to discover that his wife, Laura, has let things slide a bit.  And really, how is a middle-class household to run smoothly when your staff has up and left to support the war effort?  His domain is not the only thing that has lost its shine, his wife seems to have aged while he was away.  Her hair has begun to go grey.

In a movie, the happy reunion of a family after years of separation would be dramatic and sweeping.  The reality was quite different in many cases and the restoring of social order wasn't always easy.  The independence experienced by Laura dissolves away when she is chided by her husband for letting things go.  At the same time, her mother, Mrs Herriot, states that her daughter is working too hard.  A situation brought on my Laura's foolhardy decision to marry a man less wealthy than hoped for.  Thoughts of wanting more for herself are pushed aside for errands and social calls, this is Laura fulfilling her duty just as Stephen has fulfilled his in the war.

While it would be easy to focus on the friction, Panter-Downes writes lyrically about flowers and bees in the neglected garden, cakes and biscuits in the pantry and the green English countryside.  Ten year-old, Victoria, stuffing herself with delicious home-cooked fare at her friend's house is heartwarming and of course, those cups of tea, wonderful.  The fertility of the women in the village is grounds for speculation whether the men are home or away.

What was, what is and what may be are ruminated over and dreamt about.  At the end of this one fine day, Stephen and Laura separately come to a conclusion about how they will embrace tomorrow.  In what I know is an unpopular opinion, I can't say that I really cared.  The writing is sublime, the characters very real...I just couldn't resist wanting to shake them.

Mollie Panter-Downes

During the holidays I read through the short stories in this wonderful collection by Mollie Panter-Downes. All twenty-one stories appeared in The New Yorker between October 1939 and December 1944. Rather than tell the soldier's story she tells of the conflict that women faced in their daily lives of being left behind. The title story is about a mistress whose lover receives a commission in a mechanised regiment. Their weekly dinners come to an end as do his letters. She finally resorts to making a phone call to His Wife to ascertain whether there has been any news. The realization comes to her that she will never be the one to be informed of any details regarding the man she loves. The Danger is a story about a couple that have taken in as evacuees, a family that prove to be less than desirable house guests. After imposing for years, The Rudds finally pack up their kids and leave. Bliss is short lived when a young mother turns up looking for a place to stay. Should Mrs Dudley do the patriotic thing and help out or has she sacrificed enough. These stories are so well written that you have these vignettes playing in your head and in three pages there's a whole new set of characters. Mollie Panter-Downes was a London correspondent for an American public that couldn't get enough of the British war experience. She wrote about the trivial, ordinary things that happened to ordinary people during an extraordinary time and was one of the best in her field. She died on January 22, 1997 aged 90 leaving behind her husband of 70 years. That is a story in itself I should think.