Tue 8 Dec 2020
Stories I’m Reading, Part 2: DAVID HANDLER “The Happy Couple.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading1 Comment
Just in case you were wondering how David Handler’s story “The Happy Couple†I reviewed here a couple of days ago ended, I have decided on a way to tell you, but only if you want to be told. Please read comment #1.
December 8th, 2020 at 4:24 pm
After Barbara calls a meeting of the four of them to “clear the air,†she invites Tim and Leigh to step out on the terrace of her sixteenth floor apartment. Directing his eyes to the skyline:
“It’s very pretty,†I said. Then I heard a gasp and turned back and discovered something so unthinkable that it took a split second for the horrible reality of it to sink in.
There were only two of us standing on the terrace now.
Barbara and me. Leigh wasn’t there anymore. Even as my eyes flicked desperately around the terrace, hoping she was there, praying she was there, I know she was not. And now I heard it – the mistakable thud of her hitting the sidewalk sixteen floors below. And now there were the screams of the people in the street. Raised voices, horns honking.
I gaped at Barbara in shock. Barbara who has led Leigh over to the edge of the terrace. Barbara who had directed me to look away. Barbara who had just pushed Leigh Grayson to her death. I knew it. She knew it. We both knew it. And yet, as she stood there smiling at me serenely, Barbara had a look of almost childlike innocence on her face.
CODA: Tim tries to tell his editor what happened. “Did you see her do it?†he asks. Tim has to say no. “Forget it, then,†his editor says. “She’s a major star. No one will believe you†Tim tries to forget, but he can’t. Nor can he tell anyone, not until thirty years later, living with the guilt all the while, until he tells us the story now, finally, after Barbara Darrow’s death.