Before he went back to the front they went into the Duomo and prayed. It was dim and quiet, and there were other people praying. They wanted to get married, but there was not enough time for the banns, and neither of them had birth certificates …
Luz wrote him many letters that he never got until after the armistice. Fifteen came in a bunch to the front and he sorted them by the dates and read them all straight through. They were all about the hospital, and how much she loved him and how it was impossible to get along without him and how terrible it was missing him at night …
After the armistice they agreed he should go home to get a job so they might be married. Luz would not come home until he had a good job and could come to New York to meet her. He went to America on a boat from Genoa. Luz went back to Pordonone to open a hospital. It was lonely and rainy there, and there was a battalion of arditi quartered in the town. Living in the muddy, rainy town in the winter, the major of the battalion made love to Luz … . The major did not marry her in the spring, or any other time … . A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park.
From “A Very Short Story” by Ernest Hemingway
In a concise story, Ernest Hemingway conveys an explicit message—there is not a perfect time for any important event in our life such as getting married, having children, or filing for divorce. One must make bold decisions at the appropriate times and avoid finding excuses that postpone these life-changing resolutions. Otherwise, contracting “gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park” will be one of the less severe consequences.
Most authors are either good writers who can compose great prose or terrific storytellers who can seduce the reader with the narrative. Ernest Hemingway is an exception. He has the ability of accomplishing both with such apparent simplicity that one could miss the degree of sophistication that his masterfully crafted prose and storytelling entails.
