David returned tired from the village. All weekend he helped his parents to dig potatoes, got up early, went to bed late, was all business, and his wife did not even have a minute to talk to him. When he called her himself in the morning, she was asleep. She was resting after a week’s work. And in the evening, she was rude to him on the phone, either standing at the cash register in the supermarket, or meeting one of her friends.
David wondered more and more what had become of their relationship. They’d gotten bogged down in the two years they’d been dating. No tenderness and love were out of the question anymore.
Thinking about it, it was as if David had summoned his wife from somewhere. He was on the streetcar toward home, and his wife was walking along the sidewalk, hugging a tall guy in shorts and sunglasses. He was speechless with surprise. He stared stupidly out the window as the two men moved farther away.
Afraid he was mistaken, he called his wife. And indeed the girl reached for the phone, glanced at the screen and dropped the call. Then a lot of things became clear to David. But how to end it in such a way that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself? To lie that he, too, had another woman? Tell her outright that he’d seen her with a guy.
Mom suggested I just pack up and move out. Dad suggested telling his wife one last time. But David’s not sure he should leave. What if it’s his miscalculation? A misunderstanding? If it was a friend or a brother or something and he misunderstood and left his wife?
