Page 94 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Marc Erdrich

“It was exhilarating, Edith,” he said, ignoring her com-
plaint.

“Exhilarating,” she said, repeating after him, a habit she had
acquired in recent years.

“Yes, you’ll see. You’ll also take walks while I’m gone. You’ll
know what I mean.”

“What did you have for dinner?” she asked, returning to the
motherly role.

“Edith, I’m staying out here so I don’t have to answer ques-
tions like that. I ate what I wanted to eat. I’m fine and you
don’t have to call me every 10 minutes to ask me what I’m
doing.”

His tone was stinging, but Liam knew it was the only way.
He didn’t want her to call him all the time. He wanted to be
left alone, to know what it was like to be by himself.

* * *

Except for one time when she was in the hospital, and an-
other time when she went to visit her dying father, Liam and
Edith had never been separated for more than two days at a
time. It just wasn’t part of their experience. Before they were
married, Edith lived with her parents. Even Liam, who spent
a year overseas in the army was never really by himself. There
were always others, never a place alone.

Sometimes, in books, Liam found a truly quiet place. When
he was a young boy, he would sit curled up in a corner behind
the hedges outside his ground floor apartment in the city, read-
ing. Through the open windows, he could hear his parents

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