fwriction

Charles Baxter is one of my all-time favorite short story writers, so when I found this story on Fictionaut (which, by the way, is an amazing resources for writers), I knew I had to save it for Monday’s story of the day. Baxter is an ass-kicking way to begin the week, to be sure. There are flurries clinking against the window right now, and Baxter, somehow, makes that feel appropriate.

Enjoy “Gershwin’s Second Prelude,” taken from the collection, Harmony of the World. In addition, if you’re looking for more Baxter to warm your soul, check out his story “The Next Building I Plan to Bomb,” in the collection Believers. It’s in my top-five short stories of all-time. However, be careful in Googling the title; your results may vary (and, potentially place you on a watch list).

She understood that, despite his passionate embrace and kiss, he wasn’t physically aroused at all. His responses were unpredictable: he could stay physically indifferent to her as he managed, simultaneously, to lead her into the greatest sexual feelings she had ever experienced. She sometimes felt as if he treated her body as if he were a scientist, experimenting to see what he could do to it.

After he left, Kate sat at the dinner table for an hour, imagining that Wiley had walked down to the drugstore at the corner to buy some antihistamine. “I’ve lived with different guys,” she said aloud to herself, “but never with a circus clown.” She was collecting the dirty dishes and putting them to soak in the kitchen sink when the phone rang.