That night, Todd and Sara made love. It was probably the first time, thought Todd, that he had made love in the real sense of the word. Over the years, Todd had fucked, screwed, entered, had sex with, poked, porked, and performed acts of a non-euphemistic nature with many women, only one of whom he had been married to, but tonight was the first time he had been involved in what he was forced to admit was an act of romantic love.

It was also the first time, as he lay there in the dark, Sara sleeping on her side, that Todd found himself thinking of the women he’d been with before. He hadn’t been what you’d call an inconsiderate lover, just an inconsiderate person. The sex was very attentive but the rest of it—the thoughtlessness, the botched relationships, the sheer inability to give a flying one about anybody else—was anything but.

Todd found himself thinking about Janis. He wondered what she’d ever got from their marriage. After a minute or two, he realized he’d come up with nothing and gave up wondering.

When I get back from this tour, he thought, I’m going to call up Janis’s lawyer and tell him I’ll sign the damn document.

Then he fell asleep, as at peace with himself as he ever had been or ever would be.

Part Two

PART
TWO

Five

FIVE

Todd wasn’t sure about the etiquette of heading out on a book tour. He had envisaged himself slipping out of bed in the gray dawn, leaving a note for Sara and driving off in the cold morning fog. But in the end he woke up late and went downstairs to find that Sara was making French toast in the kitchen.

“I’m doing this as a displacement activity,” she explained. “Making breakfast instead of crying.”

“I’ll be back before you know it,” promised Todd. “And I’ll call every night.”

“I’d kind of rather you didn’t,” said Sara. “I think I’d find it hard to take. Send me postcards instead, why don’t you? Like on that Bruce Springsteen album.”

She tapped him on the chest with a spatula.

“Find me,” she said, “the tackiest postcards you can. Greetings from Stoolbend. With all fancy lettering and a photo of the World’s Largest Pumpkin.”

“I will,” said Todd, and he meant it.

“Now eat,” said Sara.

*  *  *

Sara waved goodbye from the porch as Todd swung the Volvo into the road. He was going to honk cheerfully as he drove off, but for some reason this idea made him depressed, so he just took a final look back in the rear-view mirror, saw Sara close the door behind her, and lit out for the highway.