The Piano Teacher

Chapter 18

Nels Oleson tightened his brown string tie around his neck, craning down to look at himself in the mirror of his wife's vanity. Harriet had already dressed and left the bedroom, making sure the mercantile was prepared for the morning. He was just about ready to go downstairs, but staring at himself in the mirror spurred him to sit down.

He looked at himself closely for the first time in a while. Lightly, he touched his forehead, noting how it was written with fine lines, as were the corners of his eyes and mouth. He ran a hand through his hair, thinning quite a lot at the front, though he always combed it straight back to disguise it. It depressed him as he used to have such nice hair.

There was even a picture on the vanity that proved it, a photograph of him and Harriet taken on their wedding day. Both of them had been so young then. He had sharp features, a piercing gaze from beneath a low brow, and thick hair combed neatly to the side. He had been considered handsome then.

And Harriet... she had been beautiful. A woman with a strong, shapely face and physique, her waist as tight as a wasp's, with the shiniest, darkest hair and most acute blue eyes he had ever seen. She hadn't always been the way she was now. But she had always been spoiled. Nels supposed that was one of the things that had attracted him to her. She needed to be spoiled as much as he wanted to spoil her.

One of his weaknesses had always been his generosity. It had backfired on him a few times, but he always felt satisfied when he could give people things, care for them. To him, there were few things better than helping someone or giving them something that would make their face light up.

It was easy to forget that the first couple of years of marriage to Harriet had actually been lovely. They had been crazy about each other and couldn't stand to be apart. But things changed, little by little. The magic of the fresh marriage wore off of Harriet fast, and she soon became irritated with Nels on all accounts, even when he did nothing wrong.

The situation only grew worse after Nellie's birth and after Willie. Harriet's spoiled nature, which had initially been endearing to him, soon devolved into spite and prejudice against him. He could never live up to her standards. She was only ever pleased when she could walk all over him.

The same nature rubbed off on his children, who were starting to become equally insufferable to be around. He sometimes wondered if he had done anything truly wrong for his wife to turn against him, but he could never come up with anything. 

So much time had passed, and he hadn't even noticed. 

Somehow, his receding hairline bothered him the most. Perhaps because it was the most obvious indicator of his age.

He grabbed a comb from the vanity and tried combing his hair differently, as if moving the strands a certain way would make him look like he had a full head of hair again. But the more he tried, the more frustrated he became.

He jumped and dropped the comb when Nellie came storming into the room, her blond curls perfect and her apron as crisp as usual. "Father, a whole crowd of people in the restaurant want steak and eggs for breakfast."

"So, make them steak and eggs," he said, frustrated, smoothing his hair back in place with his palms.

"You know I can't cook," the girl whined, balling her fists.

"Have you tried yelling at them? That seemed to work for you in the past."

"Father, please! I hate cooking, you know I can't do it by myself, and Mrs. Ingalls isn't there today to help."

He sighed. His daughter looked at him with her big blue eyes, just like her mother's, and just as manipulative, which is why he couldn't say no even as much as he wanted to. "All right, come on, let's hurry."