I’ve long been a fan of Christine Sneed’s work, and this story in Short Story, Long is a great example of how Sneed can take seemingly ordinary situations and turn them into a compelling story. “Leave of Absence” is about a couple who do in fact take a leave of absence from their “mid-level manager” positions and head west from Illinois to California to find themselves and to get away for a bit. The two get on pretty well—there are no major issues in the marriage—and in fact, Julie, the protagonist, likes this road-trip version of her husband who lets his hair grow long and “two-day stubble” mark his face.
The story starts with Julie in the bathroom of their recently purchased camper. She’s eavesdropping on the couple next door. What she gleans is one of those hypothetical “would you rather” situations. In this case, it’s would you rather have your head shaved or hand burned in boiling water? It seems a no-brainer, but the woman who’s being asked the question chooses the latter. After that, the couple in question—Julie and her husband Brett—go to the casino and pull slots. It’s there, at the casino, that the undertow of conflict rushes onto the scene: Julie and Brett have two kids, Andy and Lizzie, both in their twenties, and Julie worries over their wellbeing. Andy is sullen and prefers Only Fans to real-life intimacy, and Lizzie is distant and confides in Brett her life decisions, as opposed to talking with Julie, which becomes a point of contention throughout the rest of the piece.
The story is a midlife examination of this mid-fifties couple, and when they pose the question of what they want for the rest of their lives, both indicate: “I don’t know what I want.”
And that’s okay, they decide, because, “Everyone’s lost, to some extent.”
The story follows a fairly traditional story arc, but the rising and falling actions are more subtle, dictated more so by tone and pacing more so than events and actions.
So many of Sneed’s stories are like this: couples figuring out who they are, what they want, and what the future might hold for them, together and/or separately.
As they travel to their next stop along the journey, Julie contemplates her life and family and hopes her children aren’t lonesome. Maybe Julie’s biggest epiphany isn’t as much about what she wants but that despite all else, at least she has someone with whom to share and spend her time: “You’re the only person who isn’t a stranger to me,” she tells Brett. And for now, that feels like enough.
Read the story here.
Christine Sneed’s most recent books are Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, Direct Sunlight: Stories, and The Virginity of Famous Men. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Story, The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, Ploughshares, and Boulevard. She’s received the Grace Paley Prize and the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, among other honors and has been a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. She lives in Pasadena, California and teaches for Northwestern University and Stanford Continuing Studies.
