Jack Smith walked into his house, shut the door behind him, and kicked off his shoes. It had been a long day: A long, horrible day. He had been at the office from seven a.m. to eight p.m., and he had only been able to grab a fruit salad for lunch. Even though he had won both his cases, his day had been crummy because the opposing counsel had appealed them. Then there had been the files. Stacks of them that had been there since the day before, and awaited him tomorrow. He wondered where Dianne was: Probably doing something at the stock market where she spent most of her life. Still, she made two million a year, only three million less than him. Dianne a stockbroker! Twenty-three years ago he would have laughed at the idea. She had always been so quiet and gentle. Not at all like the shrewd businesswoman she was now. Jack preferred that old Dianne, the one who would never snap at anyone, or yell. Now all she did was ignore him, and flare up when he suggested something.

Then there were their kids. When Dianne was nineteen, and in her second year at Harvard, she had their oldest child: Jacqueline Emily Smith. Jackie was now twenty-two, and had just completed a degree in finance at Columbia University. She was headed for Wall Street in her mother’s footsteps. Next had come Brian. He was twenty and lived in Connecticut, where he attended Yale, and was in his second year of college preparing for law school. Finally, there was Alexis. Alexis Nicole Smith! What a girl; she was so smart and could have been anything she wanted. With the highest IQ of their children, and on ambition that was sky high, she could have been the biggest thing ever to hit the stock market or the courtroom. Now nineteen, she was in London, England, at RADA; the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, following her dream of becoming an actress. Of course he disapproved. Still, not as much as Dianne had. Dianne had always blamed him for Alexis’s choice of career, because he had taken her to see her first show when she was five. She had often asked about actors and actresses, but they had never suspected a thing, until she was in the eighth grade. Around that time, she started going to plays and musicals with friends, and coming home excited and high-spirited. Dianne had been upset about it, but they were both so darn busy, they hadn’t been able to look in to the matter. They had flatly said that acting was not a stable career, and no child of theirs was ever going to become an actor.

Then Alexis’s curiosity about acting died, or so Dianne and Jack thought. She started getting more involved in extra curricular activities at school and often left early to study with friends or attend debate club. There were evenings when she stayed out late to work on the school newspaper. Then, at her high school graduation, it was discovered that while she had been participating in the debate club and the school newspaper, most of the time was spent at rehearsals, practicing for the plays she was in. Even though the drama teacher and principal had praised her very highly, it did not help; in fact, it outraged Dianne even more. Jack had stepped in too lecturing her about how much of her time had been wasted in mindless pretending that would never be of any use. When she announced that she wanted to be an actress, Dianne had been furious. She had flatly refused to accept the fact that any member of her family was a performer, and had all but shut the door in Alexis’s face. Then, when the question of college came up, Dianne had suggested that she apply to an Ivy League school, because with her grades, she could easily get in. Alexis had refused, and when Dianne had told her that she could either try for a good college and a substantial career (other than acting) or leave, Alexis had packed her suitcase and left. One month later, he got a call from Laura, her best friend, saying that Alexis was in England, and that she was doing fine. Dianne had simply dismissed the matter saying that Alexis would be back soon and forget all this nonsense about acting. Even then he had known that Alexis would never give up acting, but Dianne was too blind to see it.

Jack was just about to get up and make himself something edible when the living room door opened and Dianne stormed in slamming the door closed behind her. One look at her face and he knew it had been a very, very bad day.

Her mouth was very thin and her skin had a faint glow of red: especially on her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, and if Jack didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that there were sparks shooting from her eyes.

“ Hey Dianne, how was your day?â€