The Truth
By James Tate
Mitzy fell asleep as soon as we got home, but I didn’t.
The evening had upset me. Why did Jack keep asking me if I’d
been married before? And why did my answer not satisfy him?
It was probably just a bad joke. Jack’s humor is off sometimes.
But he’s not a bad guy. Well, then I went to bed. When we woke up
in the morning Mitzy said, “Jack was right about you, wasn’t he?”
“What do you mean?” I said. “Jack said you were kicked out of
the Army,” she said. “I was never in the Army, how could I be
kicked out?” I said. “I don’t think he likes me.” “Oh, I think
Jack likes you a lot. He just wishes you were more interesting,”
she said. “And by making me secretly divorced and secretly kicked
out of the Army I’m instantly more interesting, is that it?” I
said. “According to Jack you are,” she said. “I think we had better
have breakfast,” I said. “Good idea,” she said. During breakfast
I said, “Don’t you think I’m interesting?” “Of course I do, honey,”
she said. “Let’s forget it. I mean, Jack is an old friend. Maybe
he was just drunk,” I said. “That’s probably it,” she said.
“What are you going to do today?” I asked. “I’m thinking of buying
a new dress for the wedding,” she said. “What wedding?” I said.
“You know, Carol and Bob’s wedding, next Saturday,” she said.
“Oh God, I forgot all about it,” I said. “How could you forget?
Bob’s your best friend,” she said. “I know, I just had my mind
on other things, but now I’ll focus on their wedding, I promise,”
I said. Shortly after that Mitzy left the house. I cleaned up
the breakfast dishes, then sat down on the couch. Why had Jack told
the two secrets I had told him years ago. I had sworn him to
silence, and now everybody knew. I had told him I would kill
him if he ever told anybody. I wasn’t going to kill him, but I
did think about disappearing, just vanishing altogether. Where
would I go? What would I do? And I do love Mitzy. I could tell
her the truth. I’ve had eighteen years to do that, and not a
squeak so far.
