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J eff returned from his trip with a lot of baggage. His wife, the
one he discovered in high school, as if he were the first male
to touch the first female, did not meet him at the door. She did
not meet him at the door because she was not home. She was across
town fucking a lawyer she had consulted about divorcing Jeff. In
the end, well, not the final end, of course, she doesn't go through
with the divorce but the affair with the lawyer stretches out for
a year or two. But, back to Jeff, who has just walked into his
empty nest. The den is a long slide downward, a slope without music
or sense, ending in the center of his life, a place of no return,
a Rubicon. He puts down his gatherings and looks at the mail on
the credenza. There are no letters because people don't write letters
anymore. There is a notice from the power company about the wonderful
new things they can do for their customers. Jeff sits down and
reads it through thoroughly as if it were addressed to him personally.
He wants not to feel powerless anymore. When Jeff's wife comes
home -- her name is Lynn, she is a busty 37 year old woman with
a slight stoop -- she smiles at Jeff, a smile that hides what lies
beneath. "Hello, dear," Jeff tries. Lynn counters with, "Yep." And
they tumble on into the rest of the story because what else can
they do? It starts and ends so many times that no one can get a
fix on anything, where one sentence begins and another is up for
parole. Jeff and Lynn---God help them. They're as small as you
or me.
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