by Nell Musoff from the January 18, 2010 issueTagline: Zach was focused only on the challenges that lay ahead--until Betsy changed his point of view...
In A Nutshell: Zach gets laid off. This means no new car, no vacation, no starting a family yet. He agonizes over telling his wife, but finds out she already knows. She has news of her own: she's pregnant. Zach realizes they'll make it through this fine because they love each other.
Observations: This story does not have three acts. It only has two. The first act, as is often the case with WW stories, establishes the situation. Once we know what Zach's situation is, we move on to the action--when he gets home and has to break the news to his wife that he got laid off.
There was a black moment, which I always like to see in these short stories. Did you see it? I'll mention it in the comments, in case you don't have a copy of the story in front of you.
The story also had a one sentence epilogue:
And so we did.
Awww. That referred to naming their baby Hope.
Nell Musolf surprised me two times in this story, another thing I adore. I really didn't expect the wife to already know he'd been laid off. And, believe it or not, I actually didn't anticipate her being pregnant either. LMAO. When I read that, I felt like a dummy, but I still was happy for the couple.
1 comment:
The black moment was right after Betsy breaks the news that she's pregnant. On pins and needles, like Betsy, we wonder what Zach's reaction will be.
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