You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation

[Food Lady]

I'm at work after my shift because I've been shopping for a bag for my new job. I decided to have a snack at the cafe. I just witnessed an apprehension. The man is in with the A.P. team and the woman and kids are out here. She seems remarkably calm, unnaturally so. The police are here; her husband or whatever he is to her might be arrested. And she's telling her daughter "We're gonna go back to Subway" as if everything will go back to normal. It's as if she knows the drill because she's been here, done this, and gotten the T-shirt. I know as a mom you have to try to keep calm for the children, but I as an adult should be able to perceive that it's a facade. It's not. She's just..here--not really. Like I said: been here, done this...

[Minflick]

Poor kids.... Maybe mom's extreme calm is her only alternative to losing her shit and raging...

[Deserted]

A couple other possibilities:
1. Mom's the actual culprit, and the man is the fall guy, so everything is going as planned. (I think it's unlikely, but you never know.)
2. Mom's on drugs (legal or otherwise) that are enforcing calmness.

[raudf]

Or Mom thinks guy is a dumbass and deserves to be busted, and is actually giggling inside about it. She's just getting the kids out of visual range of the guy getting shiny new silver bracelets.

[MoonCat]

I can't help but be reminded of a local woman whose son was arrested on a murder charge. She was shown on local news, along with a friend, at the courthouse, talking in a bland, matter-of-fact voice about what her son had been charged with. All the while she was stuffing chips into her mouth.

Some people.

[Food Lady]

^ Good grief! Well, maybe she's a sociopath. Maybe her son is, too.

[Cecily]

Or maybe she was overwhelmed and fell back on something normal/soothing? Like her brain froze into neutral and she needed to reboot?

[Nunavut Pants]

Very much this! Due to a lot of reasons, sometimes my reaction to Very Bad Things is completely deadpan. Not only sociopaths can have a very flat affect, where they don't seem to be reacting to something, but also victims of abuse, family members of addicts (especially children of alcoholics), and others. I also believe that some of the autism spectrum disorders can result in that sort of thing.

...Or, of course, the woman could have been an unfeeling cow...

[Food Lady]

I meant the person in MoonCat's story is a sociopath, not the woman in my story.

[Nunavut Pants]

I thought that both Ceily and I had understood that. That is certainly what I was commenting on.

[Monterey Jack]

Very much this! Due to a lot of reasons, sometimes my reaction to Very Bad Things is completely deadpan. Not only sociopaths can have a very flat affect, where they don't seem to be reacting to something, but also victims of abuse, family members of addicts (especially children of alcoholics), and others.

Reminds me of that scene in Gone Girl where Ben Affleck it at a press conference being held to fuel public interest in the disappearance of his wife, and while taking a photo, ends up awkwardly smiling at just the wrong moment, and gets CRUCIFIED for it by the press.

Just because someone might seem unfeeling on the surface, it doesn't mean they're not hurting inside. As someone who probably has Asperger's, I know this all too well (I couldn't smile on command for a picture if you held a gun to my head).

[Food Lady]

I thought that both Ceily and I had understood that. That is certainly what I was commenting on.

Sorry, I've been sleep deprived all week.