The Friend

The mother’s old fur coat is the kind of detail writing teachers like to point out to students, one of those telling details—like how Simenon’s daughter got her gun—that are found in abundance in life but are mostly absent from student fiction. The one doll to escape such a fate was now hidden away in a secret place from where the writer hoped someday to retrieve her. A “rent-burdened” woman worrying how she’s going to survive in New York City decides to try writing a novel (“and that’s going well”). This goes on year after year, until they finally find it in themselves to admit that they’d really rather just stay home.