The story initially begins with Mary Maloney patiently awaiting her husband, Patrick Maloney’s arrival. When Patrick finally arrives, he is extremely mood, and after gulping the liquor drink that his wife had made him, he proceeded to make himself a stronger one. Mary tries to lighten the mood by casually speaking; but, all of her chatter was in vain. After several attempts at trying to prepare his dinner, he had commanded her to sit down. Although not clearly stated in the text, it can be implied that he wanted to leave. Patrick had agreed to give Mary a manageable amount of money to care for herself and the baby she carried. But, he wished that she would not make a fuss about the whole ordeal because it would be frowned upon and poorly reflect on his job as a policeman. She was clearly shocked by the announcement.…show more content… With this statement, Mary struck her husband in the back of the head with the lamb lag, causing him to collapse to the floor. The thud of the floor brought her out of the dazed state she had been in. She realized that she would be subject to execution. She was ready to face the consequences, until she began fearing for her unborn baby’s wellbeing. So, as a result she devised a plan to deceive the policemen. She placed the lamb leg in the oven, and rushed upstairs to get ready to head to the store. While she was up there, she practiced her conversation with the grocer until it came out completely normal. When returning home, she reminds herself that in order to go uncaught she must remain natural and typical. In an attempt to abide by these notions she calls out for Patrick as if he had been alive. In the film, she drops all of her items on the floor in attempt to portray shock. She continued he act by scattering the pillows, and throwing papers around to give the allusion of an intruder. After she created the perfect crime scene she called the police and congers up hysterical tears.
