Good Days, Bad Days (eBook)
363 Seiten
Full Court Press (Verlag)
978-1-946989-02-4 (ISBN)
A BAD IDEA
David stared absentmindedly at the cars cruising passed their Park Slope apartment. “I’ve decided to write a story about child prostitutes of Thailand.” He said it quietly, without looking in her direction.
Caught by surprise, not sure if she’d heard him correctly, she blurted, “You’re what?”
“I decided,” he said more authoritatively, “to write a story about child prostitutes in Malaysia.”
“Where the hell did that come from?” she asked, more amused than angry.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I heard about these kids, some only eleven years old, girls and boys, orphans or runaways, who are sold into slavery.” He paused, turned away from the window, and finally looked into her eyes.
“Listen—”
She cut him off with a wave of her free hand, the other tightly gripping the back of the dining room chair, her knuckles bloodless white.
“David, what the hell are you talking about? You know nothing about Thailand—you’ve never even been there.”
“What difference does that make? I write a lot of things I don’t know anything about—-at least until I research it.”
“David,” she started, but this time he was the one to cut in.
“It sounds interesting and the kind of story that should find plenty of readers and more than a few magazines who’ll print it.”
“That’s just it… .” She was beginning to get angry and took a breath before continuing. “You don’t know that. You’re telling me you’re going half way around the world to write a story about something you know nothing about and have no assignment from a magazine to cover expenses or know if anyone will even print it?”
“Bridget, I already queried a few editors. Just haven’t heard back yet.”
She pulled at the chair and sat down. Lowering her head, she began nervously twisting her long, henna-tinted hair, still wet from the shower.
“David, it’s a bad idea.” She shook her head. “I assume you were planning on going alone, right?”
“Well, yeah. Can’t see any point in you straggling after me through the back alleys of—”
She waved him off again. “When, may I ask, were you planning to go? And for how long? And when were you going to tell me?”
The questions shot out of her, staccato-like, harshly, not waiting for a response. Then she abruptly stood up and headed toward the bedroom. He waited a few minutes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, then repeated the process, before following her.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging a pillow, her knees pulled up against her. She didn’t look up.
He started to explain, “Honey, I’m sorry—”
“No, you’re not!” she shot back. “You want to go. You want to go by yourself. I know what’s going on.”
He reached for her, but she pulled away. He placed a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened.
“David, you’re the most self-centered, inconsiderate …I gave up on the idea of us getting married. I let go of the idea of having a child with you. Everything’s your way, everything.” She stopped, exasperated, hurt, tearful.
“Honey,” he began. “I…I… . Look, you knew what I was like when we moved in together. Didn’t I ask you to come with me to—”
She raised her hand again. “David, that was then. I work now. You know I can’t go with you. Even if you asked me to—which you didn’t.”
They both fell silent, contemplating what to do or say next.
She looked fleetingly at the clock on the night stand. “I have to get ready.”
He reached for her. “Please don’t leave like this. We have to finish this—”
She rose from the bed, smoothed the duvet, and turned to the dresser. Suddenly there was a pleading urgency in his voice: “It can’t wait.”
That stopped her cold.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I already booked the flight.”
Her demeanor instantly shifted. Shoulders drooping, arms dangling heavily at her sides, lips quivering, she screamed, “David! How could you?”
In the awkward silence that followed he heard the refrigerator humming, the click of the hot water heater, the wind rustling the leaves outside; he could smell the breakfast coffee wafting in from the kitchen.
Tears began to pool in her eyes. After a full minute she straightened her tall, slender body, pulled her hair back, entered the bathroom, and gently closed the door. He heard the squeak of the spigot and a stream of water surge into the sink.
Not knowing what else to do, feeling like a dismissed child, he poured the last bit of coffee into his mug, the one that had the words Author! Author! written on it, and heaved an enormous sigh. He sat down and put his elbows on the chrome and Formica retro-kitchen table, and considered Bridget’s state of mind.
She took almost twenty minutes to emerge from the bedroom. Dressed for her job at a downtown art gallery, her hair slicked back with gel, the obligatory black ensemble hugging her torso, she squinted at him, trying to comprehend his motives—this man whom she fell so hard for the moment their eyes met at the museum three years before. “David, I have no idea what makes you the way you are, but I know that we are worlds apart in this relationship. We do need to talk.” For emphasis, she added, “And soon.”
He nodded, said, “You’re right,” and looked away, adding a sarcastic, “When would you like to do that?”
Reaching for the door and not looking back, she said, “I can’t tonight. We have the Cuercia opening.”
“Oh, right, you wanted me to come to that.”
As she opened the door, she turned to face him. “Under the circumstances, it’s—-don’t you think it would be a bit awkward now?”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“Perhaps,” she said as she headed out, “we can talk about this in the morning?”
He didn’t respond, but watched her march down the corridor out of sight. He stood there for a few seconds and then closed the door.
David spent the morning thinking about their relationship, where it had faltered, when it had changed from fun, laughter, and hot sex to a few mumbles, cursory conversation, and compulsory lovemaking. Hard as it was for him to concede, he knew she was not at fault. He spent most of the day and early evening rehashing his choice to go to Thailand, his role in the discord with Bridget.
When she got home that evening, he tried to smooth things over, but she wouldn’t have any of it.
“So how was the opening?” he asked.
“Fine.”
She was tight-lipped, unsmiling, still pissed from the morning.
“Um, big turn-out?”
She sighed and slowly shook her head from side to side. “David, I’m tired. I just want to go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
He stayed up late, sitting on the sofa, the TV on without sound, considering his life, his career, what she had said about him. He knew Thailand was an ill-conceived attempt to escape, not so much from Bridget, but from himself.
In time he crept into the bedroom, undressed in the dark, and slid under the blanket. He was reluctant to move, afraid of waking her, but the urge to nestle closer overtook him, and he pressed gently against her back. She stiffened but made no attempt to pull away. Satisfied by the proximity and warmth of her body, he closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes.
He woke several hours later after realizing she had gotten out of bed. The sun was up and the coffee made; Bridget was sitting at the kitchen table, scratching her head, working a crossword puzzle. She was still in her sleep pants and a T-shirt. Their eyes met, and she muttered, “G’ morning.”
Well, that’s promising, he thought. He mumbled a rather sheepish “Hi” and sat down opposite her, watching, waiting for a sign it was safe to speak, to offer some words of reconciliation.
She wrote down a few letters, erased them, shook her head, and put the pencil on the table. “You have something you want to say to me?” she asked.
“You mean about the trip?”
“Yes, about the trip. About why you didn’t say anything sooner. Why you think it’s okay to do that to me.”
He was silent, framing his response, not sure exactly what it was he wanted, or was about, to say. They stared at one other, she somewhat incredulously, he with mind racing, trying to read her expression until he blurted out an answer that surprised even him. “I won’t go.”
“What?”
“I’m not going. It’s a dumb idea, and… and I don’t want to lose you. I want to get back to where we used to be, and I’m sorry I was so insensitive.”
Bridget’s lips parted, but no words came out. She had been caught completely off guard. “Where is this coming from?” she finally asked.
He pressed his lips together, smirked, shrugged, but offered to reply.
“You sure?” she asked. “You were pretty adamant yesterday. What about the ticket? I thought you said you already booked the flight.”
“I can cancel up to a week before.”
“Uh-huh. So when were you supposed to go?”
“A week from tomorrow.”
“That only gives you one day. You sure, David? You sure you want to cancel?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s the right thing to do.”
“I’ve never known you to let that get in your way.”
He took a deep breath, said, “Well,” and...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 26.7.2017 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen |
| ISBN-10 | 1-946989-02-9 / 1946989029 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-946989-02-4 / 9781946989024 |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
EPUB (Ohne DRM)Größe: 975 KB
Digital Rights Management: ohne DRM
Dieses eBook enthält kein DRM oder Kopierschutz. Eine Weitergabe an Dritte ist jedoch rechtlich nicht zulässig, weil Sie beim Kauf nur die Rechte an der persönlichen Nutzung erwerben.
Dateiformat: EPUB (Electronic Publication)
EPUB ist ein offener Standard für eBooks und eignet sich besonders zur Darstellung von Belletristik und Sachbüchern. Der Fließtext wird dynamisch an die Display- und Schriftgröße angepasst. Auch für mobile Lesegeräte ist EPUB daher gut geeignet.
Systemvoraussetzungen:
PC/Mac: Mit einem PC oder Mac können Sie dieses eBook lesen. Sie benötigen dafür die kostenlose Software Adobe Digital Editions.
eReader: Dieses eBook kann mit (fast) allen eBook-Readern gelesen werden. Mit dem amazon-Kindle ist es aber nicht kompatibel.
Smartphone/Tablet: Egal ob Apple oder Android, dieses eBook können Sie lesen. Sie benötigen dafür eine kostenlose App.
Geräteliste und zusätzliche Hinweise
Buying eBooks from abroad
For tax law reasons we can sell eBooks just within Germany and Switzerland. Regrettably we cannot fulfill eBook-orders from other countries.
aus dem Bereich
