Boy And Girl Games Like Coupling by Jamie Paige, 2016
The magic trick:
Leaving gaps between how the narrator acts with his girlfriend and what he tells the reader about how he feels about his girlfriend
This one features in a collection called Mississippi Noir, so you know the tone of story you’re in for. It might get dark. And this one does.
Our teenaged narrator calmly walks us through the history of his relationship with his girlfriend, Glen. There are enough gaps between how he acts with her (pleasant) and what he tells the reader (not so pleasant) about his opinions of her that we get very nervous about what might happen in this story when those gaps close and Glen learns the truth about her boyfriend.
Great way to build a feeling of danger and ominous suspense.
And that’s quite a trick on Paige’s part.
The selection:
And she brings me food home from her job. Sometimes she gives me money for weed, but she doesn’t know it. She really needs to be more careful with her purse.
Lately she’s been acting strange, talking about wanting me to meet her family, wondering why I spend so much time here at the overpass. It was her idea to come along. We’re way up high. I stand and look over the rail. I’m straining through the dark for something, anything. Glen is talking about her family again, and I can’t think.
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