The Sky Is Falling Read Online Free PDF Page B

back.”
    â€œUnrequited love,” Kopanyev sighed.
    â€œThey’re even married to people who don’t love them back.”
    Kopanyev: “Example?”
    â€œâ€˜Three Years,’” I said.
    â€œRemind everyone, please, Jane. Summarize story.”
    â€œGo ahead,” I said to Michael but he only made a face.
    â€œLaptev is in love with Julia, a friend of his sister Nina,” I said. “Nina’s dying of breast cancer. Actually, Nina’s also a victim of unrequited love because her husband lives in another part of town with his mistress.”
    â€œMen!” expleted the ponytailed girl at the end of the table and everyone laughed, except Mohawked Keith who generally limited himself to expressions of contempt.
    â€œLaptev proposes. At first Julia refuses because she doesn’t love him. Then she agrees. Because Laptev’s rich and she doesn’t see any other opportunities for herself. The story basically relates the first three years of their marriage.”
    Michael swept his bang away again. “Their unhappy marriage. It’s completely depressing .”
    â€œChekhov is funny too.”
    â€œWhat’s funny about that story? Find me one funny thing.”
    â€œI don’t have the book with me.”
    â€œCancer? Ha ha ha.”
    â€œDoesn’t their baby die?” someone asked. “That’s the same story, right?”
    â€œThat story is more sad than funny,” I agreed, “but others are really funny. The people are funny.”
    â€œAnd we have two cases of unrequited love,” said Kopanyev. “Can anyone think of other stories with this element?”
    â€œâ€˜Lady with a Lapdog.’”
    â€œThat’s not unrequited . That’s doomed .”
    Turgenev’s Bazarov and Odintsova were proposed, but Kopanyev asked that we restrict our discussion to Chekhov. The heavy girl who kept poking at her cuticles said, “There’s that story. I don’t remember titles. Where the creepy husband pisses off the wife who’s trying to help the famine victims.”
    â€œâ€˜My Wife.’”
    Another professorial nod for me.
    â€œâ€˜His Wife,’” I added.
    Blank looks all around.
    â€œWhere he finds the telegram from his wife’s lover saying he kisses her sweet little foot a thousand times?”
    â€œHa ha ha!” roared Kopanyev. “So wife can be villain? I thought women could only be victims.”
    The three other girls in the class rolled their eyes but wouldn’t take the bait, not even Ponytail. “The wife’s the villain in ‘The Grasshopper,’” a male pointed out.
    â€œâ€˜The Grasshopper’!” Michael moaned. “I read that last night. Another riot.”
    At Kopanyev’s request, Michael summarized it: wife runs off with arty friends while doctor husband pays for everything, catches diphtheria, and dies.
    â€œThat’s actually quite a funny story,” I said.
    â€œBut in that story,” the heavy girl said, “the wife didn’t hate the husband. She just thought he was boring.”
    â€œShe was having an affair.”
    â€œBut she still liked her husband, so I don’t think you can call that”—four fingers with ragged cuticles, two from each hand, went up and scratched the air—“unrequited, per se.”
    â€œâ€˜The Kiss’!” Keith blatted.
    â€œMost definitely.” Kopanyev asked for a summary.
    â€œThis army captain? He goes to a ball. Hangs around feeling like a loser. Later he goes into a dark room where this lady’s waiting for her boyfriend. She kisses the loser by mistake. This pathetically transforms the guy’s life. He spends months fantasizing about the mystery lady, hoping for a chance to go back to the house. Finally the opportunity comes up and he goes and realizes what a complete and utter loser he really, truly is.”
    Kopanyev stroked