Bob and Betty

It was a good divorce. They each took one of the cars and one of the labradoodles; they divided the silver, antiques, and paintings, put the house up for sale, agreed to split the proceeds, and were shaking hands goodbye when they heard a musical tinkle from the garden. "Oh-oh," she remembered, "my wind chimes." "My wind chimes," he corrected. They hurried across the lawn and reached for the chimes at the exact same moment; when she tripped him, he slugged her, when he slugged her, she bit him. The realtor found their bodies later, chimes twined around their throats.

Gina and George

They fell in love the minute they met. He left his wife and she left her husband and they ran off to Paris together. For three weeks they left their hotel room only to eat in dim-lit restaurants, drink champagne, and take long walks in the soft spring rain. Nestled in his arms, she said, "I have never been so happy." He didn't answer. She kissed his eyelids, ran her finger along the deep crease in his forehead. "What's the matter?" she teased. "Aren't you happy too?"

"I would be," he said, "if I just had someone to talk to."

Dana and David

They lived on the same street, which was ideal, because they were both in their forties and they could see each other when they wanted and have their privacy when they wanted and anyway they were both so busy with their jobs and their friends and their children that it was good they didn't smother each other, and this went on until the afternoon her gas line exploded and he phoned to say he'd noticed the fire trucks and ambulance outside her house as he drove home and would have stopped but he'd had a conference call to make and was she okay?

Linda and Liam

They were in her favorite restaurant discussing the plans for their wedding. The food was hot, the wine was cold, but the service was slow. He joked about it; she did not. They had plenty of time, he said, their whole lives were before them, so what did it matter if the check was late? He watched her twist her engagement ring. Don't do it, he thought—but she did, as she'd done so often before—she raised her arm, snapped her fingers, and whistled for the waitress. He had no choice. He rose, kissed her goodbye, and walked out.


Kim and Krishna

She went trekking in Nepal and became infatuated with her sherpa—a bright and eager young man who spoke perfect English. He was so curious about America that she invited him to come live with her in Berkeley. She would educate him, she said, she would put him through the university and see that he had a successful career. She sent him some money for new clothes and a ticket but when she saw him step off the plane in a white leather suit, ostrich skin boots, and a cowboy hat, she slipped through the crowd and drove home alone.

Tom and Tilde

He had married the old woman for her money, so perhaps it served him right that for the next twenty years he had to wait on her hand and foot. When she finally died, her will stipulated that he would not get a single cent until he returned her ashes to Munich, the place of her birth. Learning it was illegal to bring human ashes into Germany, he carefully baked them into a loaf of black bread, wrapped it, packed it, and when the plane landed he took a taxi to the river bank and fed her to the ducks.

Sean and Susan

She said the new baby might not be his. He backed the car over her cat. She gained sixty pounds. He cried out his ex-wife's name when he came. She sold his Ted Williams baseball bat for one dollar at a garage sale. He went to Bangkok for two weeks without her. She corrected his boss' grammar at a company dinner. He kissed her sister on the lips. She kissed his father on the lips. He drove off and left her at a truck stop. She found cocaine in his sock drawer and called the cops. They're still together.


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Molly Giles' most recent book is ALL THE WRONG PLACES: Stories.

Read more of her work in the archive.

Detail of photo on main page courtesy of Jeff Meyer.





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