Other People We Married by Emma Straub

Author:Emma Straub [Straub, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101575284
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2012-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

Other People We Married

The advertisement had been gloriously distorted. What did it say, 3 bed/2 ba cottage on the water, w/boat slip and dock, private beach. Great for families, was that it? It was like something Edward Gorey might have drawn, with a little girl skipping to her death. The thing barely held Bobby and his fire truck, and he was only three. Great for families looking to off each other in the peace and quiet of the Vineyard, is what it should have said. Jim would have put his foot down, always eager for his creature comforts. Franny just wanted to get out of the city, go somewhere with a beach. She still thought she was a cow with her leftover baby weight and yet insisted on wearing those stupid pigtails all young mothers seem to think it’s their right to wear, as if they were all waiting, gasping, praying for someone to say, Oh, you! You can’t be the mother of this child! You couldn’t possibly be old enough! Charles was just along for the ride, the fourth wheel—Bobby might have been small, but he was family, and Charles was something extra.

Jim drove the Saab. It was little and black and frankly impractical for someone with limbs as long as his, but it was his car, and he loved it. He’d fold himself into the front seat like a Chinese acrobat and then wait for everyone else to climb in—Charles in front and Franny in back with the baby. Bobby had a booster seat that he was strapped into, the kind of thing that made most kids wail and squirm, but he sat there quietly eating his Cheerios, always listening to his mother when she pointed out things they passed on the highway: horses, fire trucks, hamburger stands.

Franny had found the ad. The New York Review of Books ran pages of classifieds; its back pages were always filled with idyllic retreats somewhere or other and, more often than not, a handsome older gentleman to share them with you. She sometimes cut those out for Charles, too—she’d crack up reading them aloud.

“Listen to this one, Charlie, he’s perfect for you. Long baths and foot rubs. Looking for someone to enjoy my impressive wine cellar and library. M4M. Impressive wine cellar, do you think that means no twist-offs? Or maybe that’s what he’s looking for, some good twist-offs, what do you think?” It was unclear if Jim ever got to weigh in on whether Charles came along on their family vacations. It was doubtful. Jim was her husband, but Charles was her man, and if Franny wanted him along, well, then, he was going.

Martha’s Vineyard was always a nightmare to get to, and Franny, despite her formidable organizational skills, never seemed to time things quite right. That year they showed up three minutes before the last ferry, instead of half an hour before the one they were booked on, which had departed hours earlier. Luckily, Franny was great with uniformed personnel.

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