Elly: As firm as tapioca pudding.

[dreadedcandiru2]

I really don't like defending John Patterson because he's such a stupid, selfish character but it seems to me that he might have had a reason to not take Elly seriously for so long. It takes him a while to realize that when a girl or woman is upset, it's not the hormones talking but when the notion penetrates his thick skull, he does change his tune. Why did it take him six months to realize that April was upset about being treated like furniture and twenty years to realize that Elly was dissatisfied with being just Suzy Homemaker and nothing else? The sixteen-year-old kid had the brains to say what was on her mind. I remember when he bought the over-priced stereo when she was trying to budget 'cause it was "his" money. He bought her an appliance and got to keep his toy. What he took away from that is not that she had a genuine concern but that she wanted a bribe so as to allow him his impulse purchase. Had she insisted on returning the silly thing, he might have got the point. Not her, though. She didn't have it in her to modify his behavior. A bit more firmness in her and he might have been brought up to code a lot sooner. She continued to give him enough definite maybes to allow himself the luxury of trivializing her. The reason, of course, is simple. She was afraid that he'd pack up and leave if she lowered the boom. Her greatest nightmare was, after all, single motherhood. Once she developed the confidence to shout him down without fear of what divorce might mean she was, of course, in her late forties. By that time, John was still appreciative of the female form but smart enough to realize that said approval might not be reciprocated.