#139 Beach Town- Amy Hempel
It’s summer and the woman’s house next door has been rented
to a young couple. They’re a little loud, their friends a little disrespectful
of her property and she’s worried that the gardener isn’t taking proper care of
the orchids.
She hears things and sees things of this couple, private
things, things she probably shouldn’t know about them. Perhaps she shouldn’t
eavesdrop on them? The again:
“Nobody thinks about the way sound carries across water. Even
the water of a swimming pool.”
She witnesses the husband cheat on his wife, and then hears
the wife’s friends console her when she finds out.
“The woman advised long walks. They told the wife to watch
the sun rise and set, to look for solace in the natural world, though they
admitted there was no comfort to be found in the world and they would be all
fools to expect it.”
Hempel has a way of making you feel like you’re watching her
stories quietly from near-by. This story is almost the same thing, like we’re
watching someone watch the story take place.
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