《Birds of America》Lorrie Moore

Dance in America

"The thing to remember about love affairs," says Simone, "is that they are all like having raccoons in your chimney... And once we tried to smoke them out.  We lit a fire, knowing they were there, but we hoped that the smoke would cause them to scurry out the top and never come back.  Instead, they caught on fire and came crashing down into our living room, all charred and in flames and running madly around until they dropped dead."  Simone swallows some wine. "Love affairs are like that," she says. "They are all like that."

Community Life

He's been trying to look pleasant, but now he winced a little. "Oh, I see," he said. "Miss High-Minded.  You whose father made his living off furs.  Furs!"  He took two steps toward her, then turned and paced back again.  "I can't believe I'm living with someone who grew up on the proceeds of tortured animals!"

She was quiet.  This lunge at moral fastidiousness was something she'd noticed a lot in the people around here.  They were not good people.  They were not kind.  They played around and lied to their spouses.  But they recycled their newspapers!

Real Estate

They'd been married for twenty-three years.  Marriage, she felt, was a fine arrangement generally, except that one never got it generally.  One got it very, very specifically.

Terrific Mother

He was a practical man.  He often referred to the annual departmental cocktail party as "Standing Around Getting Paid."

"You don't understand," she said.  "Normal life is no longer possible for me.  I've stepped off all the normal paths and am living in the bushes.  I'm a bush woman now.  I don't feel like I can have the normal things.  Marriage is a normal thing.  You need the normal courtship, the normal proposal." She couldn't think what else.  Water burned her eyes.  She waved a hand dismissively, and it passed through her field of vision like something murderous and huge.

"Normal courtship, normal proposal," Martin said.  He took off his shirt and pants and shoes.  He lay on the bed in just his socks and underwear and pressed the length of his body against her.  "I'm going to marry you, whether you like it or not."  He took her face into his hands and looked longingly at her mouth.  "I'm going to marry you till you puke."