I thought I knew him, but we had dated for just a few months when we got engaged. I sometimes wondered exactly what he did for a living, and where his money came from. But whenever I asked he would say, “Oh, don’t be silly, sweetheart.”
There were warning signs. After our wedding, I kept my job and “Jeff ” (not his real name) kept his, although I had no idea what his job was. Some days, I would notice that he didn’t go to work at all. When he was on the phone, he would have entire conversations where he only said, “Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you very much.” Several times, I overheard him saying, “Yeah, she’s sexy. She’d be good.” Other times, he would have to leave for a week.
I would ask, “Where are you going?,” and he’d answer, “Oh, you know me, gotta go to the Coast.” No, I didn’t know him.
On those trips, he’d let me know that he registered in hotels under a different name. Sometimes it was “Mr. Clean.” Sometimes it would be “Todd Randolph.” In every other respect, however, he was a wonderful husband.
Denne historien er fra April 17, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra April 17, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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QUARTET ISLAND
Mendelssohn on Mull celebrates chamber music away from urban pressures.
FIX YOU
The self-help positivity of Coldplay.
ILLUMINATIONS
Suzanne Jackson captures the transformative power of light.
RAT PACK
The classic rodent studies that foretold a nightmarish human future.
ROYAL TREATMENT
The unrivalled omnipresence of Queen Elizabeth IL.
WELL, WELL, WELL
Eating—and not-in the epicenter of hype diets.
NEWARK STATE OF MIND
Mayor Ras Baraka's reasonable radicalism.
DOOM SCROLLING
Social media and the teen-suicide crisis.
THE WORKER REVOLT
Harris and Walz try to stop blue-collar Americans from drifting to Trump.
THE CHIT-CHATBOT
Is talking with a machine a conversation?