Acting (5-minute freewrite - Monday prompt: house coat)

Marge sighed as she sank into her easy chair. It was 10:00 a.m. and she was still wearing her house coat. Lighting a cigarette, she idly picked up a magazine and began to flip through the pages. Life was so dull: Get up, make breakfast, get the kids off to school, get Harold out the door to work. And then what? Wash the dishes, clean the house, do the laundry, buy groceries, make supper, and do it all over again tomorrow. She never really had wanted a career, but she wasn't sure this was the life she really wanted, either.

Look at those movie stars in that magazine. They probably had maids and cooks to do all the work, and all they had to do was sit around and look glamorous. Somebody probably did their makeup for them, too. Cripes, look at the skinny young girls in those beach photos. Did they have any idea what it's like to be fat? Do they only eat celery sticks and drink water? What would it be like to just pretend to be someone else all day, and have people wait on you the rest of the time?

Marge wished she could act like someone else for just one day. She would act the part of a famous detective, and solve deep mysteries. Come to think of it, she already solved deep mysteries every day. Like where did Sally's favorite socks get to? And what could she make for dinner out of hamburger that didn't look like the last four dinners made from hamburger? And where did Harold leave his keys? Oh yes, these were the everyday mysteries she always solved.

Upon further thought, Marge realized her life was not necessarily glamorous, but she was a really great actor. Not only was she a detective, but at times she acted the part of a super hero, a famous (well, very locally famous) doctor, a psychologist, a chauffeur (only she was driving children around, not Miss Daisy), and a gourmet cook. Not on hamburger days, of course, but there were those moments now and then when something turned out really great.

The doorbell rang, shaking Marge out of her reverie. It was 10:15. Oh yes, the postman was right on time. And now she could practice acting like someone else, like someone in a soap opera, just like she did at 10:15 every weekday.