Are the other mothers working harder than she is, she wonders, so very much harder? Ought she to be ashamed? Or are they working markedly less hard — watching movies in the middle of the day, taking time to smell the roses as it were? Are not their families better off under the light hands of these carefree women? She does not know, and it haunts her.

Are the other mothers maintaining adequate communications with the neighbors? Are they up to date on meaningless pleasantries, as well as genuine expressions of heartfelt gratitude? Are they grateful for the right things, if in fact they are grateful at all? Have the other mothers told the secrets to the wrong person, or sets of people? Has she? How is she to live without being sure?

Did the other mothers forget to turn off the oven?

Can they still fit into their jeans?

Would they have authorized the war?

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, the president had a speech prepared that he never delivered — an emergency address to be given should the lunar module become disabled, leaving the astronauts stranded. The existence of the speech troubles her.

In Event of Moon Disaster, it was called. Where did Nixon keep his copy of his dispatch from an unrealized future? If he had to deliver it, would the astronauts listen to it? When the priest commended their souls to “the deepest of the deep,” would they be allowed to hear? Would this priest consider the proximity of God almighty to the lost adventurers? Who at NASA would finally end communication with the two men? Would the men be aware of this ending before it came? Would the last thing the listeners on Earth heard be their screaming? What would Nixon say to the widows-to-be when he called them? What would he say to his own wife later in bed? Would Nixon cry? Would Neil cry, would Buzz? Would they die together, neatly succumbing to dovetailed forces of physics, or might one go first, leaving the other the most lonely person in the universe, the loneliest soul who ever lived? Did they carry cyanide capsules with them onto the surface of the moon? If so, would they use them? She’s just asking questions.

Do the other mothers imagine the housekeeper imagining them in bed with their husbands, when the sheets are being changed?

Are the other mothers all in?

(How much a consolation, if any, are the children?)

Are the other mothers investigating reliable methods of escape?

Do the other mothers have each others’ backs? Are they prepared in case of disaster? Do they have each others’ computer passwords?

Do they know where to find the file marked, “FUNERAL?”

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