The Corn Maiden And Other Nightmares - Plot & Excerpts
Who’s it?”—he wasn’t expecting any calls, this time of evening. And the voice on the line was a female voice—a woman, or a girl—familiar—but hushed, breathless—“Brad Shiftke?—is that you?” “Sure is. Who’s this?” A moment’s hesitation—as if whoever it was had to consider this question seriously—then the voice turned coy, playful—“Guess!” “Guess? I can’t.” “Hey Brad c’mon—you’re not even trying, man.” His heart gave a little kick. So quickly the voice had lurched into a teasing sort of reproach—sounding more familiar now—someone he’d known well? Someone—intimate? Whoever it was wasn’t from any recent time in his life, Brad was sure. Not one of the women he’d known these past five, six years—the women still speaking to him—would be addressing him like this. Those years in his younger life—mid-twenties to thirty-eight, -nine—there’d been women who’d addressed Brad in such a tone. He’d married young, and separated; divorced, and married again; and in the interstices of domestic life in Florida and upstate New York, for which he’d been no more suited than a wild animal—raccoon, chimp—that can’t be tamed, he’d seen women in secret.
What do You think about The Corn Maiden And Other Nightmares?
