Livingston Press specializes in offbeat literature, and The Longest Pregnancy qualifies beautifully. Each of the fourteen stories in this book is, in some way or other, odd. These are all "what if" stories: the reader grants the premise and then goes along for the ride.
By Don Noble
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When publisher Joe Taylor announced the creation of the Ruby Pickens Tartt Award for a first volume of short fiction, he received 170 complete book-length manuscripts of short stories. The Longest Pregnancy is the winning collection.
Livingston Press specializes in offbeat literature, and The Longest Pregnancy qualifies beautifully. Each of the fourteen stories in this book is, in some way or other, odd. These are all "what if" stories: the reader grants the premise and then goes along for the ride.
Sometimes, the oddness is reminiscent of a Grimm Brothers fairy tale. In "Wife Swapping with a Giant," the story is told by a young husband, Tom. He and his wife live in a regular house, but next door a really big house is built and a pair of giants, a man and his wife, seventeen feet tall, move in. Pretty soon, the giant husband has stolen Tom's wife but given him his giant wife in return. It is Gulliver among the Brobdingnagians, except it happens in suburbia.
In the title story, Anesa Clifford is pregnant for about six and a half years. I acknowledge that while it may seem that long to many women, it is still not possible--except that Anesa was impregnated by a lightning bolt, which happens rarely and is usually associated with the formation of new religions. People shun Anesa, but Pete loves here and will not give up his courtship. All ends well.
Sometimes the "what if" premise of the story is realistic, that is, not magical or metaphysical, just far-fetched. In "The Country of Women," the men of Mokena awake one morning to find all the women and small children are gone, just gone. The men cannot even bring themselves to talk to one another about what has happened, but of course that was part of the problem. They had never talked much with, or listened much to, their wives when they were still there.
The wives and children are found safe, living together happily in the forest, and the men are welcome to visit occasionally, but the women are not coming home. The husband-narrator ends the story plaintively: "I still don't know what I did wrong."
Some of the stories are magical. In "Bejeweled," an unhappy wife, Devola, is about to leave her husband, whom she really doesn't like, when a living room chair that had belonged to her deceased mother-in-law suddenly gives birth to a pearl necklace, then a diamond tennis bracelet, a sapphire ring, earrings, and a tiara. Devola decides to stay.
The lead story, "The Shark Swimmers," may be the most subtle. A family at the Jersey Shore has trained sharks into a kind of Sea World dolphin act. In "Scar Serum," Lorna, an unattractive, overweight teenager, one of several in this volume, is the after-school "lab assistant" to Mr. Carpone, an elderly inventor. Mr. Carpone cuts Lorna over and over with a knife then applies his serum. The wound heals at once, leaving no scar, no sign. Is Mr. Carpone a scientist or a pervert? Hard to say, but Lorna is devoted to him.
Another story involves a nature park where wild animals hunt people. In "The Attached Couple," a married couple begin to grow together, literally, becoming attached like Siamese twins. "The Strongest Woman in the World" features a woman who is just that: Superwoman.
These stories exhibit varieties of the literary imagination. They are surrealistic, or fanciful, or allegorical. They are tall-tales, fairy tales, stories of magical realism. If this sounds appealing, by all means read The Longest Pregnancy. But handle this book as you would a volume of O. Henry stories, with their trademark reversals. If you read more than two at a sitting, they lose their surprise. Read one Fraterrigo a week, and the offbeat, outlandish premises will, each one, be fresh and startling.
Don Noble's book reviews can be heard each Monday on Alabama Public Radio at 7:35 a.m. and 4:44 p.m. Recently retired as English professor at The University of Alabama, Don's specialties are Southern and American literature. Don also hosts Bookmark on Alabama Public Television.
