Free The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll Page A

Everyone else was finished and leaving the table. Charlotte Oakley came by.
    “What are you two talking about? You look like you’re sharing atomic secrets.” She was smiling and her voice was only friendly. A beautiful nice woman. Anyway, why should she be worried? She won any contest in the room. Whenever I’d looked at her, I’d noticed at least two men staring at her each time. Who wouldn’t?
    “Charlotte, the most amazing thing! James Stillman was Miranda’s boyfriend when they were in high school.”
    “Really? I loved James. He reminded me of Hugh when he was young.”
    That was it! I’d not been able to put a finger on why I liked Hugh Oakley so much. The instant she said it, I realized a great part of my attraction to her husband was that he seemed to have the same kind of roaring spirit and curiosity as James.
    “I hadn’t seen him since high school. Then I went to our class reunion and heard he was dead.”
    She frowned. “A bad place to hear something like that. James was the Prodigal Son always sneaking back in through the dog door. The original Bad Boy, and always a pleasure! Any time we spent time together he absolutely melted my underwear. I would have eloped with him any time. But that girlfriend, Kiera! She went from zero to bitch in two seconds.”
    “What happened to her?”
    “Wait a minute, I have a picture of them.”
    “You do?” Hugh sounded as surprised as I did.
    “Sure. The time we all went to Block Island?” Charlotte carried a small purse but had a large wallet wedged into it. She took it out and rummaged through. “Here you go.”
    She passed me a photo and although I took it, I couldn’t look immediately.
    “What’s the matter?”
    “It’s hard—the life I never lived is right here. On this piece of paper.”
    “Nah. Do it, Miranda. Then you won’t be haunted.”
    I took a deep breath and looked. James, Charlotte, and Kiera were smiling at the camera. He had short hair, which was a shock, because when we were together he wore it down to his shoulders. He looked older. There were wrinkles, and the gaunt face he’d had in high school had filled out some, but there was that same smile with the white, white teeth. Long artistic hands.
    My eyes filled. “I can’t stand it.”
    “He was great. You would have loved him.”
    “I did. ” I looked at Charlotte and tried to smile.

BABE RUTH’S SMALL HEAD
    I N THE MONTH THAT followed I didn’t think much about the Oakleys. Business picked up, and I met a man who went from Promising! to Forget It! in just four dates. Do(u)g Auerbach came to town and we devoured each other for the weekend he was there. Twice I had tea with Frances Hatch. After the second time, she said there was a brain behind my face and she liked me. That made me feel very good. I said I liked her too. She responded playfully “But do you want to love, or be loved?” For a long time the question fluttered around my mind like birds that fly into a building but can’t get out again.
    Doug said that while in Germany he had watched a TV documentary about people who had sexual fetishes for amputees. The show was very calm and informative and without any attitude. They showed snippets from amputee porno films, magazines, social clubs, and even comic books.
    “I’m a hip guy. You know, try not to judge others, be as open as possible. But I saw this show and my mouth dropped open. I kept wondering, do I live on the same planet as these people?”
    Frances liked to talk about sex, so I told her about it.
    “What’s the matter with you, Miranda?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You sound so prissy. Wouldn’t you go to bed with a man without a leg or an arm if you loved him?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “What about a woman?”
    “I can’t imagine loving a woman that way.”
    “A child?”
    “Frances, you’re just trying to provoke me.”
    “How old is a child to you? How old would they have to be before you would sleep with them?”
    “I don’t know,