Portrait of a Married Woman by Sally Mandel

Author:Sally Mandel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION/General
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2013-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

“David, I’m so happy I don’t care if I die this second.” They were on his bed on the floor now, exhausted and glistening with sweat.

“Please don’t.”

She was silent a moment. “What if we hadn’t signed up for that class, David?” she went on. “What if only one of us had? God …”

“I would have found you anyway, by the smoked salmon at Zabar’s.”

“You don’t really believe in fate.”

“I never did, but I have to tell you I’ve been giving it some thought lately.”

“You make me want to work,” Maggie said, watching their fingers twine together on his chest. “What do other people do when they feel something so strongly, so strongly that it won’t stay inside their bodies? When there’s not enough room to contain it?”

“I don’t know how many people feel things that way,” David replied.

“It can’t only be creative people. Children do, I think.”

There were patterns on the ceiling now, the windows’ outlines stretched into long rectangles. “You see that?” David asked, taking her fingers and pointing at the shapes. “That’s the very first thing I remember in this life. Patterns on the ceiling above my bed, or crib, I guess. There were leaves and slats from the blinds, all moving. Beautiful.”

“Any color?”

“Grays, I suppose.”

“Funny …” Maggie began, then stopped.

“What’s funny?”

“No, it’s just that something’s happening. I’m not sure what. With making art, I mean. The shapes. I’ve never been involved much with that … more with color. Form, too, but … I can’t explain. It’s almost as if suddenly I’m more interested in the margins around the pictures than the pictures themselves. I did something at my parents’ house, unlike anything I’ve done before. With scissors and glue.” She laughed. “Like a child with cutouts. Only it was so exciting. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“You’d better explore it.”

“I guess I’d better.”

They lay quietly for a while. Finally Maggie said, “David, I’m in love with you.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to make me dinner?”

“All right.”

She stood up and held out a hand to help him. “But let’s not get dressed. We should always be naked.”

“Wait till January and my landlord turns off the heat.”

They stared at each other, both wondering where they would be in January.

“When I was talking about holograms,” Maggie said, “my parents?”

David nodded.

“That used to be me, too. But not anymore.”

He reached for her and held her for a long time.

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