One D.o.a., One on the Way: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition

by Mary Robison

He eases out of the sheets, and sits on the side of the bed. In the dim, his bare chest shines and his boxer shorts blink the whitest white. Neither of us used to sleep through 'til morning. We would take naps together, at this time of night. We would wake up and play around, put on music, drink, go back to sleep, awaken. We'd have whiskey in tea, and sweet potato muffins. Hit channel thirty,'' he tells me now. Outside the room are powdery-white hallways, arched doors, a carved staircase. It would seem an enormous, lovely house where you could sit in an alcove on a bench and read, but it isn't. I turn down the TV volume and switch around in my seat. O.K., this is thirty. What are we tuning in?'' ''Like you're staying,'' he says. There is work waiting for me, true. Work that'll keep me busy tonight, some of tomorrow. Work, though, that I would rather not go and do. Longing and resentment. Some of both in the way my husband is stamping his cigarette.

388 pages, Paperback

About the author

Mary Robison is an American short story writer and novelist. She has published four collections of stories, and four novels, including her 2001 novel Why Did I Ever, winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. Her most recent novel, released in 2009, is One D.O.A., One on the Way. She has been categorized as a founding "minimalist" writer along with authors such as Amy Hempel, Frederick Barthelme, and Raymond Carver. In 2009, she won the Rea Award for the Short Story.