The Statue of Liberty
By John Edgar Wideman, first published in Fever
A white woman becomes enamored of a Black jogger, so she invites him and his running partner over for water when she suddenly takes her clothes off.
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Plot Summary
Two people own a home and watch the joggers run by. They have a dog named Crooker who barks at them. Orland is married to a white woman. Another white woman and a Black man jog by. The Black jogger usually waves at Orland's wife. She thinks the jogger fancies her and starts waving back. She assumes that the Black man imagines her naked in her house. The woman stands naked in front of her window for the Black man and she thinks he sees it and that is why he runs by so often. The woman has four children under nine. The woman offers the joggers drinks and they stop by. The man’s fingers brush the woman’s and the woman thinks it is because he is interested in her. The woman takes her top off in front of them posing like the Statue of Liberty. The woman rolls the wet glass on her breasts and then on the girl’s stomach, saying it is too hot for clothes. She goes to get more drinks. The joggers wonder what they have gotten themselves into.
She guides them to her yard where she strips naked and encourages the other girl to follow suit. The man does not undress. Orland has taken the kids out for the day and there is no one around for a distance. They all sit naked on lawn chairs.
The woman performs sexual acts on herself and tries to seduce the man. The woman describes her vagina as akin to the lake they must’ve jogged by en route to her house. The woman explains that half a mile up the road and by a broken wall is a pond visible through the dark pine trees. At dawn, there is a mist over the pond. The woman believes a ghost is trapped there, but if she ever gets the courage, she will jog by it at night to listen to it sing.