Final Vinyl Days (19 page)

“Why am I here?” he asks now, once again looking up to the stained glass.

“That's what I'd like to know.”

The voice comes from nowhere and fills the room. He stands, the water up to his chest. He is aware of his nakedness under the loose robe but feels no compulsion to hide. There is a long awkward silence, during which he is already planning where he will go, what he will do. He will have to leave this place, and then maybe he will change professions. Maybe he'll finally get a life and a sex life to go with it—a real one—no participation of the Holy Spirit, no ghosts of disease and depression. He knows all that he needs to know.

“Do things,” the voice says. “Keep the doors open.”

He nods, mouths his thanks. Then waits for more instructions. He will leave blankets in the vestibule. He will leave food, water, books, soap, towels, toothbrushes, clean clothes. He will leave toys, puzzles. When the voice does not continue, he takes a deep breath and dives to the bottom of the baptismal—
immersion
. He enters darkness, only to burst back into life and light and air.
Be ye not deceived
, his uncle once whispered while drawing the United States with his eyes closed.
It's all much simpler than it looks
.

Published by
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225

a division of
WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014

©1998 by Jill McCorkle.
All rights reserved.

Some of the stories here originally appeared, sometimes in slightly different versions, in the following magazines and anthologies, to whose editors grateful acknowledgment is made: “Your Husband Is Cheating on Us” in
The Oxford American
, “Paradise” in
Chattahoochee Review
and in
New Stories from the South
, 1996; “Life Prere corded” in Share Our Strength's
Writers' Harvest
, 1996; “Final Vinyl Days” in
Elvis in Oz: New Stories and Poems from the Hollins Creative Writing Program
, 1992, and in
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll: Rock 'n' Roll Short Stories
(forthcoming).

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person is intended or should be inferred.

ISBN 978-1-56512-734-0

Also by Jill McCorkle

N
OVELS
The Cheer Leader
July 7th
Tending to Virginia
Ferris Beach
Carolina Moon

S
TORIES
Crash Diet
Creatures of Habit
Going Away Shoes