story: “My Wife is a White Russian”

author: Rose Tremain

year: 1983

where: nail salon

note: I’ve been deep in Ferrante land and not reading as many short stories.

a line: “To the nurse I tried to say when I felt a movement begin: ‘Teach me how to wipe my arse. I cannot let my wife do this because she doesn’t love me. If she loved me, she probably wouldn’t mind wiping my arse and I wouldn’t mind her wiping my arse. But she doesn’t love me.’”

theme(s): Disability, May-December relationship, communication