Satuday Verse: "True Romances: 1" - Margaret Atwood

TRUE ROMANCES 

1

When I knew them them they were an ordinary couple, she
smiled and laughed a lot, she was a physiotherapist I
think, and there was nothing wrong with him either,
that you could see, except he was a little, you know.
That summer they went on their vacation together,
they always went on their vacation together, to Spain,
that was back when you could still afford it, and
everyone thinks he but her up and left her in four
garbage cans around the city, or maybe not in cans,
do they have cans there? In Barcelona, except it
wasn't Barcelona. It's like that guy who was keeping
his wife in the freezer, you know? And a couple of
kids went looking for some popsicles or whatever.
He didn't even have a lock on the freezer, some
people are pretty dumb. He said they'd gone to
Madrid, except it wasn't Madrid, and one day she just
went out for a walk and never came back, but the
landlady, in Barcelona or whatever it was, says she
saw him back at the flat or whatever it was they'd
rented, after the day he said they'd gone to wherever.
And the cans with her in them were in Barcelona, not
Madrid. So they're there and he's here and naturally
they want him to go over, for questioning they say,
and naturally he won't. He says he doesn't need the
distress all over again. I'll bet. Not that I would either
if I was him. I saw him in the supermarket last week.
He was holding an eggplant and said, Aubergine,
It's a much better word, don't you think? He was
running his fingers over the purple skin. He hasn't
changed a bit.

- Margaret Atwood                                                         



Happy Halloween