Thoroughly Modern Midge

Midge is an only child. A Really Only Child. She has no siblings or cousins.

Midge has two parents-a mother and a father. Until recently, just like Betty's, Archie's and Jughead's mothers, her mother was content to be a homemaker. Then, just like Betty's, Archie's and Jughead's mothers, her mother went to work at a real job. Like Betty's mother and Jughead's mother, her mother went to work because they needed the money. The cost of things were going up and Midge's grandfather's illness had been the costliest of all, with the grim return on investment being that he died of Alzheimer's anyway.

As time went on, Midge's father's fortunes improved and he could actually support them all on one salary pretty well. However, Midge's mother, like Archie's mother found fulfillment in her job. Perhaps a bit too much. She was rarely home and when she was telecommuting or reading or conference calling or sleeping. The family rarely did anything together. Midge was often left to her own devices. Unlike Joani, who saw the empty house as something to be accepted, Midge did what girls have done for years once they got to their teenage years-she got a boyfriend.

Well, she didn't exactly get Moose Mason. He picked her out and she let him stay because he gave her lots of attention. One of Midge's guilty secrets is that she loved attention. Moose gave her all the attention that she wanted and then some. He listened to her even though he didn't get a lot of things and he made sure that she got fed with the weekly meals at his parents house.
He was adequate as far as sex was concerned and more careful than a rabbi at a bris about protection. Sure, she had to tutor him so that he could attend a Division I school and put up with his practices and moods and be straight-laced but it was worth it. Besides, on the few occassions that he forgot about her, she learned that by casting her eye (and body) in the direction of some other guy (usually Reggie because he loved forbidden and was such a glutton for punishment) she would gain his attention back real quick.

It came to pass that Midge learned the truth about her parents. Her parents had not been happy for sometime. This she knew, but after all, there had been stress and death in varying doses for the past few years, however, they managed to get through difficulties. There had been barely concealed arguments over money and time spent away from home. Those were the days she spent at Moose's idyllic "Happy Days"-like home. While the yelling and screaming was atrocious, the silence that followed was unsettling. She didn't tell Moose any of that. She did not have the patience to spell things out and again, they usually managed to work it all out.

Until now.

Midge's parents finally made time and sat her down. They were getting a divorce. Both found that they could not live with each other amicably any more. Somehow, there was a point of no return. Neither would try counseling because they saw it as delaying the inevitable. Both assured her that each still loved her and that both would be in her life. The dissolution would take a bit of time but they were selling the house and Midge's mother would be looking for an apartment and her father would be looking for an apartment for them both. She would live with her father because it was best.

Once upon a time, television stations signed off for the night. The station would identify itself, say good night, emit a high pitched tone and then static followed by white noice would happen. The last bit is what Midge heard-white noise. Their words and their "reassuring" tones were like so much white noise.

Midge took the news well enough. It was a horrible thing all around. None of the gang's had parents who had divorced. Sure, there were a few like Joani, who had a single parent but Joani's father was widowed. It would be embarrasing, especially the way that talk spread in their town. She could not believe that her parents were this selfish.

For days after the news was broken, Midge kept to herself and made sure that she came home at times that would minimize her contact with her parents. Both in their way tried to be her best friend in a way they had never done before, and it irritated her to no end. At first she thrived on the normalcy of the Mason home. Then the questions came about her home. Midge did a credible job of evasion but it became uncomfortable. Midge then started finding excuses not to have dinner at the Mason house.