Spit up and the Suburbs

Moments after reluctantly sending her daring comment calling out another one of Lanie’s typical, one-sided posts on Facebook, Alyssa saw it: those little bubbles under the post that meant someone else was adding their comment, too. Was it Lanie, admonishing Linny for daring to hint that her recounting of the incident wasn’t biblically accurate? 

But no. Instead, the comment that appeared as if by magic under hers literally made her jaw hit the floor—or at least the granite countertop. Then, not one, but two commenters joined the conversation, with the first writing, “I agree that most kids seem to be pretty well behaved around the community. But sorry you had a bad experience.” OK, it wasn’t a total takedown of the mom who could always be counted upon to sport a Louis Vuitton belt bag with her workout attire, but still. Someone actually agreed with Alyssa!

The second comment was bolder, and clearly shared by someone who’d needed a little push before going there. “The other day a group of kids including your son rode up thisclose to my daughter on scooters,” the brazen mom, whose name Alyssa didn’t recognize, typed. “They also called Cora a crybaby because she got upset. I’d love for them to apologize,” she added. And then, “Hope the big kids apologize to Connor, too.”

Alyssa sat in her kitchen as if she were part of that viral TikTok freeze challenge from several years back. Moments passed. And then, a thumbs up emoji appeared under Linny’s comment. A few more empowered Almería moms, maybe who like Alyssa lived on the fringes of the PMS Club—and therefore in fear of speaking out against one of its all-powerful members—added their own emojis in support of the comment about Conner and company’s treatment of little Cora. 

Still in a bit of a daze from the shock of it all, Alyssa put down her phone and half-turned her attention to picking up the house. Later, when she was absentmindedly making dinner, her oldest, Courtney breezed into the room, plopped her shoulder bag down on a bar stool and began quizzing her mom about what she was preparing—not that any of Alyssa’s meals would pass muster with a teenager. Either way, Courtney probably didn’t notice the barely perceivable look of satisfaction that was still playing out on her mom’s face as she went about fixing (most of) the family’s favorite meal: spaghetti and meatballs.

And during the meal, her brood likely didn’t make much of the slightest improvement in their mom’s mood. Because deep inside, something was taking root. Perhaps it was hope that things could get better.