Where Do You Go?
By Samar Farah Fitzgerald, first published in New England Review
A young married couple finds themselves drawn to their next-door neighbors after moving to a small town with a predominantly elderly population.
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Plot Summary
Henry and Vega, a young married couple, decide to move out of the city and into a charming small town with a mostly elderly population. They work from home and start trying for a baby. One day, their elderly next-door neighbor Cynthia warns them that her husband Gordon will probably come by and ask for cigarettes, even though he has emphysema and shouldn't be smoking. She asks them not to give him any cigarettes.. One night, while Vega tends to her herb garden, she is startled to find Gordon watching her and smoking. Gordon offers her a cigarette, which Vega eventually accepts. A few weeks later, Vega sees Gordon smoking in a local park, and she offers him a ride home. He tells her that his doctor wants him to walk every day, so Vega suggests a scenic walking path by the lake. Vega and Gordon begin regularly going on afternoon walks together. Henry becomes worried about Vega because she has a habit of becoming distant and disoriented, and he suspects that she has panic attacks. He begins experiencing a strange feeling that something bad is going to happen to her. While Vega gets to know Gordon, Henry starts spending more time with Cynthia, performing odd jobs around her house. She gets him to be the handyman for all the elderly women in town, and Henry starts to feel very protective of Cynthia. He urges Vega to stop smoking with Gordon, but she refuses. One day, while Vega and Gordon walk, Cynthia tells Henry that she feels slightly hurt that Gordon walks with Vega instead of his wife. Unbeknownst to Cynthia and Henry, Vega encourages Gordon to touch her breasts during one of their afternoon walks. At a Labor Day dance at the community center, Vega and Henry show up slightly tipsy. They dance together, then go home and have sex. The next morning, they both feel confident that Vega is pregnant.