The Promise of a Normal Life by Rebecca Kaiser Gibson

Author:Rebecca Kaiser Gibson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781956763614
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

1970

self-congratulation

It was the picture of the bleak islands, black against the sky, in the New York Times travel section that drew Tom to Norway. Tom had determined to go up the coast of Norway all the way to the Lofoten Islands, north of the Arctic Circle, but I hadn’t heard about that detail yet. I was amazed at Tom’s idea of going anywhere, much less to Norway for three weeks in July. I’d never have thought of Scandinavia, having no associations with it, though I realized that tall blond Tom must identify with the pale isolation of the north, with the Norsemen, perched on rock edges, living without comforts. Tom seemed dedicated to austerity.

Our first evening in Bergen was cool and gray. Tom had whitefish for dinner, with white potatoes.

“I’ve been thinking,” Tom announced. “I’ve been thinking about money, about how differently we spend it.” I was instantly on the alert. This wasn’t what I expected him to be thinking about.

“I have a proposal,” Tom added, being responsible, as always. “So I won’t have to feel annoyed or even know what you are buying, how about if we split our incomes right down the middle. Half each. We can split our joint expenses likewise. Every month we’ll tally up what each has spent for the joint household and reimburse each other for whatever is not balanced. Then the rest is each of ours to spend or not, however we want.”

“Oh,” I answered, carefully. “I guess that seems fair.”

I hadn’t realized he was annoyed. I’d thought I’d been pretty economical, but maybe buying any clothes at all seemed excessive to him. Maybe it was excessive. This plan of his did give me some room, some space I hadn’t realized I wanted. What a bold, flexible plan, I decided—so unconventional, so appropriate.

When Tom said that he really wanted to get above the Arctic Circle, take the train up the coast to those islands he read about, I realized that I didn’t. In fact, nothing could have been less appealing to me at that moment than trekking farther north, toward more bleakness.

“Well, why don’t I go north and you south?” Tom proposed when I hesitated. We agreed where we would meet, in Oslo, in a week.

Far from striking either one of us as odd that we were taking separate trips on our first vacation together, we were impressed with our mutual and remarkable flexibility. Why not honor each one’s needs in this way that impeded neither? How were we to understand the extent to which our ingenious plan indicted us?

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