Selected Excerpts

Man and Wife

Katie Chase
The Missouri Review

They say every girl remembers that special day when everything starts to change.

I was lying under the tree in my parents' backyard, an oak old enough to give shade by young enough to be climbed, when Dad’s car pulled into the garage. All afternoon I'd been riding bikes with Stacie, but we had a fight when she proposed we play in my basement—it was getting too hot out, but I was convinced she was only using me for my Barbies. This was eight years ago. I was nine and a half years old.

Dad came out and stood in the driveway, briefcase in hand, watching me pull up grass. "Mary Ellen!"

I yanked one final clump, root and dirt dangling from my hands, and sat up.

"Come inside. I have wonderful news."