Scrubbing Away Their Lies

On her first day as Mark's wife, Claire is handed a dirty rag and ordered to scrub the floors. Her mother-in-law, Gertrude, insists a doctor has declared dust deadly to her, and she wanders the house in white gloves hunting for specks of dirt, weeping to Mark whenever she finds one. For two years Claire rises at five to scrub and stays up past eleven to wash dishes, while Mark promises his mother will move out once Claire is pregnant.

Then Claire falls from the balcony while cleaning, and Mark's only response is to wait until morning to call for help. She wakes to find herself back on that first morning, rag in her face, and slaps it across Gertrude's cheek. Mark demands an apology, reciting the same script about his mother's hard life, and Gertrude plays the martyr.

Claire walks out and calls her friend Chloe for lunch, refusing to pay for hardships she did not cause.