Comments on: A story about madness? or apathy?

Question: A story about madness? or apathy?

lou — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:05:04 -0800

ShortStoryFilter: A bachelor gradually finds out he has a wife? It's hard to explain it in one sentence.

I seem to remember a story about a man who's living alone, but starts noticing ever-increasing signs of a (feminine) presence over the course of some time. The changes in his home are really minor at first, like he comes home from work and notices the dishes are washed, or something got moved, but at first he just figures he forgot it was something he did. Then it becomes obvious that it's not his doing, like the drapes get changed, furniture moves around. He sees someone else's stuff, women's clothing, etc. At the end of the story the final piece of the puzzle appears: it's a woman who identifies herself as his wife, and acts as if she's been there all along, but he's never seen her before.

I hope I'm not just making it up? But it's been in my memory for years. Anyone know what it is?

By: macrowave

macrowave — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:32:51 -0800

Something like this sort of happened in a movie called Chungking Express.

By: srah

srah — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:00:28 -0800

It reminds me of this French song.

By: Soulbee

Soulbee — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:22:18 -0800

might it be a story by jhumpa lahiri? i can't remember which book of short stories but this rings a bell, maybe check into her short stories.

By: Magnakai

Magnakai — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:52:09 -0800

It's not what you want, but the British indie film Late Night Shopping featured a character whose girlfriend worked completely different hours to him, and thus they never, ever saw each other, despite apparently living together. There's a slight thematic connection there.

By: comatose

comatose — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:23:58 -0800

I am almost positive this is a McDonald's commercial. I think it is an advertisement for their coffee to wake you up? I am at work right now so I can't search for it online without being blocked from any site showing video.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:45:35 -0800

comatose: I think the McDonald's commercial features the same basic premise, but I don't believe it's what he's asking for. I remember the commercial you're speaking of and it doesn't feature the gradual revelation of signs, etc.

By: lou

lou — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:25:02 -0800

comatose: if you can get me a link eventually, that would be cool. I'm not nearly as cultured enough to have been exposed to anything else in these responses besides a McDonald's commercial.

It's interesting that other people explored other similar themes but no one has so far pinned down an exact source material. What I'm remembering is there's a very prominent sense of something supernatural happening, like someone's life is changing around him by magic, rather than by trickery. It's entirely possible that my memory is bad, or it's based on the retelling of someone else's unreliable memory, or maybe this is actually an original idea that I'm passing off as someone else's.

By: TheDukeofLancaster

TheDukeofLancaster — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:30:06 -0800

I'm almost certain this was a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, but I can't find it.

What I remember, vaguely, is that the person in the house called the police a few times because there were items showing up that shouldn't be there, things were moving, etc.

In the end a different person calls the police, for the same reason.