Read Online The Visiting Privilege by Joy Williams - Free Book Online

Sam pulls the plug and gets out of the tub. He towels himself off. He puts on a shirt, a tie and a white summer suit. He laces up his sneakers. He slicks back his soaking hair. He goes into the child’s room. The lights are out. Elizabeth and the child are looking at each other in the dark. There are fireflies in the room.
    “They come in on her clothes,” Elizabeth says.
    “Will you marry me?” Sam asks.
    “I’d love to,” she says.
    —
    Sam calls his friends up, beginning with Peter, his oldest friend.
    “I am getting married,” Sam says.
    There is a pause, then Peter finally says, “Once more the boat departs.”

    It is harder to get married than one would think. Sam has forgotten this. For example, what is the tone that should be established for the party? Elizabeth’s mother believes that a wedding cake is very necessary. Elizabeth is embarrassed about this.
    “I can’t think about that, Mother,” she says. She puts her mother and the child in charge of the wedding cake. At the child’s suggestion, it has a jam center and a sailboat on it.
    Elizabeth and Sam decide to get married at the home of a justice of the peace. Her name is Mrs. Custer. Then they will come back to their own house for a party. They invite a lot of people to the party.
    “I have taken out
obey,
” Mrs. Custer says, “but I have left in
love
and
cherish
. Some people object to the
obey
.”
    “That’s all right,” Sam says.
    “I could start now,” Mrs. Custer says. “But my husband will be coming home soon. If we wait a few moments, he will be here and then he won’t interrupt the ceremony.”
    “That’s all right,” Sam says.
    They stand around. Sam whispers to Elizabeth, “I should pay this woman a little something, but I left my wallet at home.”
    “That’s all right,” Elizabeth says.
    “Everything’s going to be fine,” Sam says.
    They get married. They drive home. Everyone has arrived, and some of the guests have brought their children, who run around with Elizabeth’s child. One little girl has long red hair and painted green nails.
    “I remember you,” the child says. “You had a kitty. Why didn’t you bring your kitty with you?”
    “That kitty bought the chops,” the little girl says.
    Elizabeth overhears this. “Oh, my goodness,” she says. She takes her daughter into the bathroom and closes the door.
    “There is more than the seeming of things,” she says to the child.
    “Oh, Mummy,” the child says, “I just want my nails green like that girl’s.”
    “Elizabeth,” Sam calls. “Please come out. The house is full of people. I’m getting drunk. We’ve been married for one hour and fifteen minutes.” He closes his eyes and leans his forehead against the door. Miraculously, he enters. The closed door is not locked. The child escapes by the same entrance, happy to be free. Sam kisses Elizabeth by the blue tub. He kisses her beside the sink and before the full-length mirror. He kisses her as they stand pressed against the windowsill. Together, in their animistic embrace, they float out the window and circle the house, gazing down at all those who have not found true love, below.

The Yard Boy
    T he yard boy was a spiritual materialist. He lived in the Now. He was free from the karmic chain. Being enlightened wasn’t easy. It was very hard work. It was manual labor, actually.
    The enlightened being is free. He feels the sorrow and sadness of those around him but does not necessarily feel his own. The yard boy felt that he had been enlightened for about two months, at the most.
    The yard boy had two possessions. One was a pickup truck. The other was a stuffed and mounted plover he had found in the take-it-or-leave-it shed at the dump. The bird was now in the room he rented. The only other thing in the room was a bed. The landlady provided sheets and towels. Sometimes when he came back from work hot and sweaty with little bits of leaves and stuff caught in his hair, the landlady would