The Boys by Katie Hafner

Author:Katie Hafner [Hafner, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Published: 2022-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

“Ethan, what the hell is this?” she asked one evening when she walked in the door. The boys and I were seated at the kitchen table doing geography drills. She spotted an EpiPen on the table, picked it up, and was examining it.

“Nothing to worry about,” I said, then quickly added, “I mean not yet. I like to keep it within easy reach.”

“Okay,” she said, drawing both syllables out. “And what are you doing?”

“State capitals.” I had a stack of flash cards in front of me, and a large map of the US was tacked to the wall.

“Oh Jesus,” she said under her breath but not so much that I wouldn’t hear it.

I was not about to apologize to her for what was keeping me so busy. I was beginning to feel like I didn’t even know her, the woman I thought I had the luck to fool into marrying me. How could I have so grossly underestimated her capacity for jealousy? I could hardly be faulted for thinking she should get professional help. But there was no reaching her. And here’s the irony: she seemed convinced that I was the one who couldn’t be reached. Talk about role reversals! I was the one who was bringing all the maternal instinct to the marriage, while all Barb seemed to want to do was to climb the academic ladder of tenure and fame.

To my great astonishment, on the very night of the geography drills, Barb demanded that I see a therapist to discuss what she called my “unhealthy attachment” to them. “Barb,” I said, trying to keep my tone as measured as possible, although I felt a bubble of rage expanding to fill an air pocket directly behind my sternum. “Shouldn’t you be examining your own withdrawal from our family, a family that we decided together to build—”

“Okay, forget it,” she cut me off. But she couldn’t resist adding: “But why do I have the feeling that you’re a little like this house?” She gestured with one arm around the walls of the living room in a quick back-and-forth motion like someone on a tear with a paintbrush. “Tug at a corner of wallpaper curling away from the wall, and before you know it, the whole place comes tumbling down.” I must have looked at her blankly, because she added, “I can’t even begin to keep trying to talk to you about this.” And with that she widened the divide that already yawned between us. She shook her head, went into her study, and shut the door.

A few weeks later, we invited Brunch to dinner, our first guest since the boys had come into our lives. Barb went out to pick up Thai food. I had to beg her not to get pad Thai, with all those peanut pieces sprinkled on the top.

Brunch arrived while Barb was still gone.

“Whoa! Ethan!” Brunch said when he saw the boys, who were on the couch watching Sesame Street, per Tommy’s preference. “This is big.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.