Wives & Lovers is a collection of three short novels from the author whom the Boston Globe calls "one of the most expert and substantial of our writers." Requisite Kindness -- published here for the first time -- tells the story of a man who must come to terms with a life of treating women badly when he goes to live with his sister and dying mother. Rare & Endangered Species demonstrates how a wife and mother's suicide reverberates in the small community where she lived, and affects the lives of people who don't even know her. Finally, Spirits is about the pain that men and women can -- and do -- inflict upon each other. These three very different works illuminate the unadorned core of love -- not the showy, more celebrated sort but what remains when lust, jealousy, and passion have been stripped away.

Requisite kindness
Rare and endangered species
Spirits
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Wives & Lovers
Three Short Novels

Chapter One

After

December 22, 1994

The afternoon bus from Newport News was twenty minuteslate, and the first five people who got off were Navy men. BrianHutton's younger brother Norman was the last of them, lookingleaner than Brian remembered him -- though it had only been a littlemore than a year. Twenty-four years old now, sixteen years youngerthan Brian. Life at sea obviously agreed with him. His skin was tan,his eyes clear; the musculature of his upper arms showed under theuniform. Everything about him made a contrast to the older brother,whose frame had begun to sag.

Norman said, "Hard times, Bro."

They embraced. "Hey," Brian said. He felt heavy and awkward.He stepped back and reached for his brother's duffel bag.

"I got it," Norman said, shouldering the bag. They stood gazing ateach other. "Somehow I'd talked myself into thinking this daywouldn't come."

"Almost ninety-five," Brian said. "A good long life."

Norman nodded. "I still hate it."

"Dad and Aunt Natalie are at the funeral home. You want to cleanup first, or go straight over?"

"Whatever."

"It's your call, Norm."

"Let's go see them."

They headed across the open lot of the station with its borders offreshly plowed snow piled high. They had to shield their eyes fromthe sun; the air was crisp and cold. All along the highway beyond theend of the station lot were telephone poles festooned with brightChristmas ribbons and tinsel. You had to enter the terminal buildingto exit out onto the street, and inside, a thin-faced smiling man in adark business suit stood next to a large cardboard box of pocketsizedBibles. The box was sitting on a plastic chair. "Praise the Lord,"he said, nodding deferentially, offering Norman one of the Bibles.

"Beat it," Norman muttered.

"Pardon?"

He walked on.

"Pardon?" the man said to Brian.

"Excuse me," Brian said.

Norman was waiting, smiling, by the door. "Check out his face,man. He's a confused evangelist now."

Brian let him pass through, then turned to look at the man withthe Bibles, who was staring after them. He thought of going back toapologize.

From out on the sidewalk, his brother said, "Forget something?"

He stepped out and they walked along the street, toward the publicparking lot up the block. "Just out of curiosity, Norman, what doyou think Gram would've said about that particular exchange?"

Norman hefted the duffel bag higher on his shoulder. "Guy givingBibles away in a bus station. I guess I'm home, all right."

"It's Bibles, Norm. What harm is in that?"

"I don't like it shoved in my face like that."

"But really -- what do you think Elena'd say?"

"I know," Norman said. "Okay? I know."

They walked on a few paces.

"So, you were there for it," Norman said. "What was that -- whatdid it -- " He halted.

"I was only there at the very end. It was Dad mostly. The wholeeastern seaboard was snowbound. Aunt Natalie was down in Florida with a tour group, stranded at the airport. Dad and Gram were aloneand they went through it that way, the two of them."

"Jesus."

"She feels awful for not being there when it happened."

They crossed the street and entered the municipal parking lot.Norman shifted the duffel bag to the other shoulder. "God, I feel badnow. I don't know what gets into me. I can't help myself when thatBible stuff gets thrown at me, like it's a snack food or something.Gram never did that. Not once. I've got a roommate, man -- spoutsBible and chapter and verse all the damn time. You should see him -- he doesn't have pictures of his family or a girlfriend in his wallet, he'sgot pictures of Jesus and the saints. Most of the time it's like I'm thedevil, because I want to drink a little whiskey now and then and gowith the girls."

"Gram probably would've loved him."

"I said, 'I know,' okay?"

For a few minutes Brian couldn't recall where he put the car. Hestopped and turned slowly, looking for it among the glaring shapes.The sun reflecting off the snow was brighter than it ever seemed insummer.

"Is Mom coming back?" Norman asked.

"It's too far. Um, she says. Under the circumstances."

"I figured. Christ. What about Tommy?"

"Tommy's with her."

"Well, it's a long way to come for a funeral. But Gram would cometo theirs."

"It's having to be anywhere around Dad, isn't it?"

"I wasn't going to come out and say it."

Brian found the car, and opened the trunk. Norman threw theduffel bag in, then decided to retrieve something from it -- a smallmetal flask.

"My ration of vegetables," he said. "Corn. Can't be without it."He twisted the cap open and took a swig, then offered it to Brian.

"Thanks anyway," Brian said.

"A lot of nutrition in an acre of corn."

"I'll have some later."

"What about Tillie?" Norman asked. "Will she be there?"

"What do you think?"

"So the marriage and divorce are off."

"Funny," Brian said.

"She and Gram got along though. Gram liked her."

Brian said nothing. They got into the car. His brother took anotherswig from the flask and offered it again. He waved it off, startingthe car. "Damn," Norman said. "I'd like to see Tillie."

"Tillie's gone," said Brian. Then he took the flask and drank fromit, feeling the burn as it went down. Handing the flask back to hisbrother, he rested both hands on the steering wheel. "I'm not built forthis shit," he said.

Norman smiled at him, holding up the flask. "That's what youkeep saying, there, bro. But you keep getting yourself into it."

Excerpted from Wives and Lovers: Three Short Novels by Richard Bausch
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.