Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut by J. D. Salinger. Short summary

5 seconds

Former college friends Mary-Jane and Eloise meet at the latter’s house. Over a drunken conversation, it becomes clear that Eloise loves the dead Walter.

1 minute

Mary-Jane came to visit her friend Eloise-they once shared a room on a college campus. Eloise was married to Mr. Wengler, had a daughter, Ramona, and lived richly in a house outside the city.

The girlfriends sat down to drink whiskey and soda, and as they got drunk, their conversations became freer. Eloise does not like her husband. Her coldness toward him carries over to little Ramona as well — deprived of her mother’s affection, the girl invents invisible friends. Eloise also takes her dissatisfaction with life out on the nurse — she does not allow Grace to receive her husband in her room, despite the bad weather he has to return to New York.

The girls’ chattering touched on one Walter. He was a witty fellow. It becomes clear that Eloise was in love with him and still is. At one time Walter called Eloise «Paw Paw.» She was once a kind and compassionate girl. But after Walter’s death, she turned into a mean Mrs. Wengler and a bad mother.