The Other Wife (Details)
citation: The Saturday Evening Post, January 30, 1960, 232(31):31, 54, 56, 58
alias: The Coin Collector, The Woodrow Wilson Dime
teaser: How can a man love another woman without being faithless to the one he married?
summary: While his wife, Marion, carries on a running commentary about sewing, Al Pullen changes clothes, thinking about buying a sportscar. Looking through coins in his pockets, he remembers childhood advertisements about coin collecting. He notices a 1958 dime, unusual because Woodrow Wilson is pictured on it, rather than Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Marion is upset Al hasn't been paying attention to her, and proves it by asking him to close his eyes and recall what she's wearing. Al fails the test. Over drinks, Marion accuses him of not loving her any more. He notes any marriage cools after four years, an observation that lands him on the davenport that night, and a cold breakfast in the morning.
On the way home the next day, Al dreads Marion's reception. He tries to imagine what his life would have been like had he taken different paths; if he hadn't broken off with a girl who could sing Japanese Sandman through her nose.
For a dime, he buys a newspaper. Continuing home, he notices little oddities: On a sign, Coca-Cola is spelled Coca-Coola; Automobile designs are different; A billboard advertises Picayune Cigarettes. From his reading of science-fiction, Al realizes he is in a different world, one of the infinite possible worlds created each time a decision is made. He's anxious to find out what — who — will greet him when he arrives at his apartment.
There, he's met by a preposteriously good-looking female.
He's
delighted, excited to explore the possibilities in more detail. Then he remembers
his wife, Marion. He doesn't want to betray her. When he hears the woman
singing Japanese Sandman,
he realizes she is Vera, the girl he'd earlier regretted breaking off with;
that in this world, he'd never even met Marion. It is impossible therefore,
to betray Marion with Vera, a realization Al takes full advantage of.
Enjoying this alternate world, Al discovers a book by Mark Twain that never existed in his old world, and many other details changed from the world he'd known before this. After some months of reading, and spending time at home with Vera, Al wants to go out for the evening. When he tires of a favorite dessert, he and Vera argue. Al wants to go to sleep earlier, and begins looking for strange coins in his pockets.
He understands that all these alternate worlds intersect at specific places, like newsstands, where something from one world — a Woodrow Wilson dime, for example — can stray into another.
One night, he finds a Franklin D. Roosevelt dime. He rushes to the newsstand,
using his dime to purchase a paper. Rushing home, he finds not Vera, but
Marion. He explains his exuberance by telling her I've got
a beautiful wife and was in a hurry to get home to her.
Life is good again, and Al's not worrying about it souring again. He's found another Woodrow Wilson dime.
words: 5,713
genre: Science Fiction
similar: None
people: Alfred E. Pullen, Marion Pullen, Charley, Vera, Mark Twain, Alfred Eichler
places: New York, NY: Park Avenue, Third Avenue, Thirty-fourth Street, Serv-Eez, Thirty-sixth Street, Thirty-seventh Street, Empire State Building, La Guardia Avenue, Thirty-ninth Street, Second Avenue El; Mill Valley, CA
comments: Forthcoming