Summary

In the story, "When the Year Grows Old" Kay Feldman’s mother, Laura, is shown to have been a controlled housewife and mother. Her husband Martin, a very stern man, demanded dinner at six, no fast food or take-out food – ever, laundry and the house must be clean, and absolutely no pets. When Kay comes home from school to find her mother, whom she had never seen smoke or drink, smoking cigarettes in the house and drinking coffee, she is shocked.

In fact, when Kay first arrives, she can't find her mother, but when she finally finds her in the basement and approaches her in the basement, Laura is a different person. She is dressed in clothes from an earlier time, not the proper slacks, shirt, and belt that she usually wore. She is smoking cigarettes, quoting poetry...