The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff

Author:Tobias Wolff [Wolff, Tobias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Stories, Literature
ISBN: 9780679781554
Publisher: Vintage Books; Random House
Published: 2012-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

After the movie Gilbert drove Mary Ann back to her house, but instead of getting out of the car she sat where she was and they went on talking. It was easy, easier than he’d imagined. When Rafe was with them, Gilbert could speak through him to Mary Ann and be witty or deep or outrageous. In the moments they’d been alone, waiting for Rafe to rejoin them, he had always found himself tongue-tied, in a kind of panic. He’d cudgel his brains for something to say, and whatever he did come up with sounded tense and sharp. But that didn’t happen, not that night.

It was raining hard. When Gilbert saw that Mary Ann wasn’t in any hurry to get out, he cut the engine and they sat there in the faint marine light of the radio tuning band with liquid shadows playing over their faces from the rain streaming down the windows. The rain drummed in gusts on the canvas roof but inside it was warm and close, like a tent during a storm. Mary Ann was talking about nursing school, about her fear that she wouldn’t measure up in the tough courses, especially Anatomy and Physiology. Gilbert thought she was being ritually humble and said, Oh, come on, you’ll do fine.

I don’t know, she said. I just don’t know. And then she told him how badly she’d done in science and math, and how two of her teachers had personally gone down to the nursing-school admissions office to help her get in. Gilbert saw that she really was afraid of failing, and that she had reason to be afraid. Now that she’d said so herself, it made sense to him that she struggled in school. She wasn’t quick that way; wasn’t clever. There was a simplicity about her.

She leaned back into the corner, watching the rain. She looked sad. Gilbert thought of touching her cheek with the back of his hand to reassure her. He waited a moment, then told her it wasn’t exactly true that he was trying to make up his mind whether to go to the University of Washington or Amherst. He should have corrected that misunderstanding before. The actual truth was, he hadn’t gotten into Amherst. He’d made it onto the waiting list, but with only three weeks left until school began he figured his odds were just about nil.

She turned and regarded him. He couldn’t see her eyes. They were dark pools with only a glint of light at the bottom. She asked why he hadn’t gotten in.

To this question Gilbert had no end of answers. He thought of new ones every day, and was sick of them all. I stopped working, he said. I just completely slacked off.

But you should’ve gotten in wherever you wanted. You’re smart enough.

I talk a pretty good game, I guess. He took out a cigarette and tapped the end against the steering wheel. I don’t know why I smoke these damn things, he said.

You like the way they make you look.

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