“That is not an answer!”
He gave a sort of frustrated growl. “Listen to me. She is a woman who lives in Nyossa, who fishes. The butcher won’t—The butcher won’t buy from her. I noticed her walking to and from the forest on foot—which is no short journey, mind you—into town to sell her catch. And she has to return to the forest with it because he will not buy from her. She needs the coin to buy things. That’s all I am doing. I am simply a go-between for her.”
“So why won’t you say who she is? And what stranger has been living this close to us unbeknownst to me? That is frightening.”
He held up a hand. “I need to think on this, Robbie. You are my wife and come before all others, but this is not a simple thing.”
I returned to my obscenities, stamping my foot in the garden.
He decided to shout some back at me. We went on like this for an hour. And then, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and I charged out of the gate and into the woods.
“Robbie, no!” he yelled behind me, but I was quicker.
I heard him in the distance, as I drew closer to the thorny footpath he had taken earlier, grumbling, swearing, and calling out my name.
When I reached the felled trees and the shambling shed on the bank of the tributary river, I stepped up to the curtain she used as a door and called out, “You had better come outside and explain yourself.”
There was a moment where only the gurgle of the water and the chirp of birdsong could be heard.
“I am Robbie Finch, Avery’s wife. You’ll come outside and tell me who in hell you are and what you think gives you the right?—”
The curtain drew back, and she peered outside.
Closer now, I could see the contours of her face. Her lips were proud, oddly set in a soft, shy face. Rich, brown hair, shining in the sunlight, fell around her shoulders. Something about her looked familiar, but I could not place her.
There was some dirt on her cheek. Her fingernails were chewed raw. Her dress was worn and fit her poorly, too tight in the shoulders and loose everywhere else. But she was still attractive.
Before she could speak, I burst into tears. “I suppose he just wants someone younger now,” I wept. “And thinner. I’ve gotten sothickas time passes. Just thicker and thicker. My backside is a barn door, I feel. And you are—You are sopretty.”
She stood clutching the curtain, blinking at me.
Avery crashed into the clearing from the path. “Oh, shit and hell, Robbie,” he sighed, looking from me to the woman. Then he turned to her. “I’m sorry, Jade. I tried to keep my promise.”
She shook her head and smiled. “No, I understand. This was an unusual arrangement.”
“I don’t think,” I sniveled, “it is so unusual for a man to leave his wife and take up with a younger woman.” I put my hands over my eyes and continued to weep.
“My gods,” groused Avery.
“This is my fault,” said the woman named Jade.
“No,” he said. “It’s mine. I could have thought of something to say to Robbie. A man shouldn’t lie to his wife.”
I withdrew my hands to glare at him.
“Could you—Could you give us a moment?” she said, stepping out from the shed and closer to me, but her question was for him.
“I suppose I can,” he said, eyeing me like I might hurt her.
I had half a mind to, now that I thought of it.
We watched him retreat back down the path, far enough to give us privacy but before the first bend behind the trees.
He stood with his hands on his head and watched me.
“Do you recognize me?” she asked.
I wiped my nose and nodded. “I do not know who you are, but you do remind me of someone.”
