The other day a friend asked me about Alma and Monroe. She was curious about when their relationship changed from employer/employee to some thing much more personal. She was also curious about how long the "personal" relationship might have been going on and whether it predated Alma's divorce. Was there even an understanding between the two of them, she wondered, so that if she were to divorce Ennis, then he, Monroe, would be happy to marry her shortly afterwards?
There's precious little information in the short story on this though the bouncy way in which the separation and divorce is told - "...and when Alma Jr. was nine and Francine seven she [Alma] said, what am I doin hangin around him, divorced Ennis and married the grocer" - always suggests to me a very upbeat Alma at this point in the story.
An earlier version of the script, however, provides a clue for a possible back story for Alma and Monroe. The scene occurs after Alma has witnessed the reunion kiss but quite how long after is unclear:
INT; GROCERY STORE; WYOMING; EARLY EVENING.
ALMA, a little older and a little less skinny, is clerking at the grocery store. As she rings up groceries, we see MONROE, now a manager, wearing a cheap tie, flirting, smiling at her. ALMA smiles back.
The customer leaves. ALMA and MONROE are alone. MONROE opens a box of Junior Mints and eats one.
ALMA
What are you smilin' 'bout?
MONROE
(chewing, smiles even wider)
Nothin'.
ALMA
Gotta be somethin'
MONROE
Just happy, I guess.
MONROE throws a Junior Mint at Alma.
ALMA
(laughing)
Stop that!
Just then, Ennis walks into the store. MONROE and ALMA immediately stop their flirting.
This, of course, doesn't make it into the final cut but nevertheless that doesn't prevent us from wondering if her relationship with Monroe was one of the reasons for Alma seeking a divorce from Ennis.
Another interrelated reason for her divorce decision dates, I believe, from the time when she became convinced that her husband and Jack were deeply involved in an affair. We know, of course, that she has witnessed the reunion kiss but it appears that it has left her with puzzlement and doubts rather than any certainty. If she was certain, why would she bother tying that note to the end of Ennis's line? It was only when she can definitely prove that no fishing had taken place on that trip even though Ennis claimed that they had "caught a bunch a browns and ate them up" that she positively knows about his relationship with "Jack Nasty".
The question is - when did this scene occur? It's impossible to say with certainty but I always like to think it's the scene when Ennis is just leaving and Alma very pointedly reminds him that he's about to leave his creel case behind.
If I'm right, then this scene takes place in 1972 and the divorce occurs three years later in 1975. That would be about the right amount of time for Alma to get everything worked out. She may well be set on divorce but she would also need something or someone to fall back on for support. She would no doubt get child support but even so that would leave her as a single mother trying to raise two smallish children. That's why I've always suspected that Monroe is waiting in the wings when Alma initiates divorce proceedings. We don't know how long a gap there is between Alma's divorce from Ennis and her marriage to Monroe but it can't have been that long as she is already six months pregnant with his child at the Thanksgiving dinner two year later in 1977.
