Outsider in My Own MarriageI specifically accompany my wife, Sophie Caldwell, to visit her family during the holidays.
My mother-in-law, Margaret Jackson, brings over a basket of apples. Then, she says in a half-teasing manner, "These apples are meant for the Jacksons. Once you've had your apple, you'll be blessed with a life as sweet as these apples. By the way, outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples."
Everyone begins fighting for the apples happily. So, I grab an apple of my own too.
The next thing I know, the atmosphere in the living room goes eerily quiet.
Sophie drags me to a corner and starts berating me. "Are you so poor that you can't even afford to buy your own apple? Must you steal apples from my family?
"Didn't you hear my mom saying that outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples? Why did you even take one from the basket?
"Thanks to you, now Julius doesn't have an apple!"
I look around my surroundings. It turns out that there are only eight apples in total, while we have nine people sitting in the living room.
So the "outsider" she was talking about is me.
I decide to hand the apple over to Sophie's godbrother, Julius Sterling. Then, I call my dad on the phone.
"Dad, you don't have to bring the holiday gifts over now."