Modern Apartment Tour & Two Short Stories: Fear of Being Late & The Mink Coat
My Modern Apartment in the City Center
I live in a flat in the center of town. The house is equipped with a modern kitchen and one modern bathroom. It also has a small living room, two bedrooms, a roomy dining room, and a small basement.
Welcome Inside
When you walk in, you are in the hall. There is a long corridor in front of you, and some doors on the right and the left.
The Right Side
- The first door on the right is the kitchen.
- Next to the kitchen is the dining room.
The dining room is the largest part of the flat and it has a small area with a sofa and a TV (so it’s also the living room).
The Left Side
- The doors on the left lead to the two bedrooms, one big and one small.
- My parents sleep in the larger bedroom, and the smaller one is for me.
They have a small balcony, but I can also see the street through a window in my room.
Short Story: Mrs. Foster’s Fear
Mrs. Foster has a pathological fear of being late. Whenever she is in danger of missing a train or plane or an engagement, a tiny muscle near her eye begins to twitch.
The Tormenting Husband
The worst part is that her husband, Mr. Eugene Foster, seems to torment her by making sure that they always leave the house one or two minutes past the point of safety.
The Trip to Paris
On this particular occasion, Mrs. Foster is leaving to visit her daughter and grandchildren in Paris for the first time ever, and she’s frantic to think that she’ll miss her flight. By the time her husband finally joins her at the car, she’s too far behind schedule.
A Fortunate Delay and a Suspicious Gift
Luckily, the flight is postponed until the next day, and Mr. Foster persuades her to come home for the night. When she’s ready to leave the next day, though, her husband suggests that they drop him off at his club on the way. Knowing this will make her late, she protests in vain. Just before the car leaves, he runs back in the house on the pretense of picking up a gift he forgot for his daughter. While he’s gone, Mrs. Foster discovers the gift box shoved down between the seat cushions.
A Chilling Realization
She runs up to the house to tell him that she has the gift… and suddenly she pauses. She listens. She stays frozen for 10 seconds, straining to hear something. Then she turns and runs to the car, telling the driver that they’re too late and her husband will have to find another ride.
The Aftermath
She makes her flight and has a wonderful visit with her grandchildren. She writes her husband every week and sends him a telegram before she flies home six weeks later. He’s not at the airport to meet her though, and when she enters the house (after taking a taxi home) she notices a curious odor in the air. Satisfied, she enters her husband’s study and calls the elevator repairman. It had jammed and she left him to die there.
Short Story: The Mink Coat and the Deceitful Wife
This story begins with the ruthless practice of American women marrying men, using them, and divorcing them just for financial gain. He claims that these poor overworked men meet in bars and console themselves with tales in which cuckolded men win one over the evil forces of femininity.
Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel
The most famous of these stories is “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat”, which is about a hard-working dentist and his duplicitous wife. Mrs. Bixby leaves home once a month ostensibly to visit her aunt in Baltimore, but really she spends the time with her lover, the Colonel.
The Parting Gift
On this particular occasion, she receives a parting gift from the Colonel, and when she opens it on the train home she is amazed to find an extremely beautiful and valuable mink coat. In a note, the Colonel explains that their relationship has to end, but Mrs. Bixby is consoled by the thought of her fabulous new possession.
A Clever Scheme
Immediately she begins scheming and trying to think of a story she can tell her husband about where she obtained it. She decides to visit a pawnbroker and borrow $50 against the coat, receiving a blank pawn ticket in return. When she gets home she tells her husband that she found the ticket in a taxicab and he excitedly explains how they go about claiming it. Since she doesn’t want to be recognized by the pawnbroker, she lets him go to claim the item after he promises that he’ll give whatever it is to her.
The Unexpected Surprise
He calls her from work the next day to let her know that he has the item, and that she’s going to be really surprised and happy. Mrs. Bixby is too eager to wait, so she goes to her husband’s office to pick up the coat. Imagine her surprise, then, when her husband places a mangy mink stole around her neck!
The Final Twist
She feigns happiness for his sake, while secretly planning to return to the pawnbroker and accuse him of switching the coat for this worthless item. On her way out of the office, though, she is passed by her husband’s young assistant secretary, Miss Pulteney… wearing the “beautiful black mink coat that the Colonel had given to Mrs. Bixby.”