The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Greer Andrew Sean

Author:Greer, Andrew Sean [Greer, Andrew Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780062213785
Publisher: Ecco
Published: 2013-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

I RETURNED TO my kitchen wet with rain, the paper flowers in my hat ruined, their colors bled together. I found Mrs. Green in the living room, looking out the window at the raindrops, each with a tiny streetlight tucked inside it. She turned her head to me.

“I didn’t go,” I said. “There was no need.”

She nodded. “What will you do, Greta?”

“Nothing,” I said. “That’s what I did before.”

“Yes it is,” she said gravely. I had meant in my home world, when I had let my Nathan’s affair run its course. But she meant in this world. I surprised myself by knowing something, all of a sudden.

“Was it the same woman?”

She did not say anything.

“The woman from the park? I’ve seen her, watching me and Fee. In a plaid coat.”

She pulled out a cigarette, lit it, empluming herself in smoke. “Yes, that’s her.”

He came home that night very quietly, and he looked startled when he saw me—and smiled, folding his umbrella, satin-shimmering from the rain. I was sitting in my nightgown, reading a Colette novel (of all things) in the hot glow of a lamp, and he kissed me and said, “Cigarettes,” so I offered him one and we sat and smoked together as the rain threw itself against the window like a naughty child. He said it was a long night, and the army was getting him prepared to stop his hours at the clinic and devote his time to inductees. A draft was all but assured. With Roosevelt in office, the talk of staying out of war had quieted a bit, but of course in army quarters there was always talk of war, never of peace. I saw no point in telling him what was coming, and I just nodded. Had Mrs. Green frightened me again? “No,” I said. “No, she’s become a friend.” He smiled and said that was good, everyone needs an ally. I said, “I thought you were my ally.” He smiled and said he was, and kissed me, then went off to get ready for bed. I stared for a long time at Mrs. Green’s darning basket, the red felt tomato stuck with pins.

Better somewhere. Perfect somewhere. I thought it would be here, in this world with Nathan. I had fooled myself into thinking that, as a planet with water implies some kind of life, a world in which husbands stayed implied some kind of loyalty. But a minor miracle is needed for life, even in the best circumstances, some errant spark. And it seemed there was no miracle here. Why would there be? When he did not love me in my world?

The next day, I broke down in tears as a radio play was interrupted with the words: “From the NBC Newsroom in New York. President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the Japanese . . .”

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