-
He watched his wife cross the street,
-
in the red trench coat
she always swore she'd throw out,
-
but always retrieved
-
from her closet, year after year.
-
She was like that about everything.
It was the trait
-
that attracted him
when they first met.
-
The clothes she wore
again and again,
-
the stacks of untouched lipsticks,
-
the song...
-
that she sang
while cooking dumplings,
-
belonged to a life
that felt alien now,
-
a life he was planning to quit
between the entrée and dessert.
-
It struck him
-
how oddly logical it was
to choose this place to leave her.
-
This very place,
where he first realized
-
that he no longer loved her.
-
When she smiled, he nearly shouted
-
"I'm leaving you so don't smile!"
-
But he merely gave her
a sip of his "kir".
-
Another thing that irked him
-
was that she never ordered
an appetizer or dessert
-
but always ate most of his.
-
Worse still,
he always ordered foods she liked.
-
"Do I even like profiteroles?"
-
he pondered.
-
When she started weeping
like he'd never seen before,
-
at first he thought
-
she knew he was leaving her
for Marie-Christine,
-
the hot-blooded air hostess
he'd loved for the past 18 months.
-
"This is it," he thought.
"She knows."
-
"She's known for ages.
I should have guessed."
-
Still weeping, she brought out some papers
-
and gave them to him.
-
In coldly clinical terms,
-
they said
she had terminal leukemia.
-
Sorry.
-
In a flash, his first purpose
flew from his mind
-
and a strange, metallic voice
began telling him,
-
You have to rise to this occasion!
-
And he did.
-
He ordered three servings
of profiteroles to go
-
and text-messaged his mistress.
-
FORGET ME.
SERGIO
-
He tended to his wife
in every way she'd ever wanted,
-
hanging pictures around the house,
-
taking her to see
her favorite movies in the daytime,
-
bargain-hunting with her
although he hated shopping,
-
reading Sputnik Sweetheart
out loud to her.
-
Every little thing
had a different flavor,
-
knowing he'd never be able
to do it for her again.
-
By acting like a man in love,
-
he became a man in love again.
-
When she died in his arms,
-
he fell into an emotional coma
and never recovered.
-
Even now, many years later,
-
his heart always lurches at the sight of a woman in a red trench coat.
