She Got Found Out!

This is a short story that I want Marie's younger family to read. Marie's father was very strict. Although she loved him, it was often impossible to follow his rules.
One day Marie was downtown and met her cousin and her cousin's fiance. She introduced him to Marie and they shook hands. Marie wished them well and they visited a bit. She did her errands and went home. One thing you have to understand is that Marie was an adult, but living at home at this time.
When she got home her father slapped her hard across the face. She had no clue why and said, "Why did you do that this time?" That is a direct quote from Marie. She has told me this story many many times. Her father said, "because you kissed a man on the street for everyone to see." Marie explained that this was not correct and that she had only shook his hand when her cousin introduced them.
She had other cousins that did not like Marie for reasons known only to themselves. They had told her father that she had kissed this man downtown. The words, "this time" pretty much tell the story, I think. Marie has told me this sotry many many times. and the telling is always the same. The reason I am telling this story is that I think it is so important to understand tht being a parent is such an important job that you are given. That the impact of how you do that job remains
in the memory of a one hundred two year old woman. Marie was so angry that she, like her sister before her planned to run away from home. She had a job, but no car. She didn't care. She was getting out of that house! She packed her bag careful not to pack much and climbed out the window. I'm sure the sense of freedom was sweet. However, the neighbors saw what she was doing and called her father. The story didn't end well. She never told me the punishment she received and I didn't ask.
Marie had suitors that were all turned away by her father. He had an excuse for all of them. Marie told me that it was an excuse to keep her home to help with the children. But for the most part her paycheck.
Things in the twenties and thirties in her family household were not so different than they are in many households today so sad, but true.
One day Marie and her father had attended a social function and those cousins that had told the lie about her kissing that man were laughing about it. They were giggling and saying how fun it had been to pull pranks on her. Her father heard these girls talking and laughing. He said nothing, but in the future he made it so that they were excluded from some of the family traditions of gift giving and hope chest additions for their own future marriages. Marie did not tell me that her father apologized, however. Just in my opinion exclusion was not enough punishment. I'm glad I did not live in that era.