”The Order of Things”
Carl is about forty, he is six feet tall, he has pale eyes, angular features and light hair. He’s married to a teacher and he has a daughter. He lives in Worland, with his wife and daughter.
Carl and Lily met at a softball game, when they both were sitting and watching their spouses play the outfield. They had everything in common, and soon they began talking. Carl had been thinking of her all his time I Worland, they just hadn’t been speaking. But that day, they sat and talked while watching the game. They felt an intimate connection, even when they weren’t talking. Carl just felt something about her, he couldn’t ignore and apparently they agreed to meet three weeks later.
They met at Super 8, a motel south of Cody, where they apparently had their first time together. After that, they were seeing each other in different places, different motels and hotels. In time, their relationship turned into a serious thing. They were seeing each other every Sunday morning, meeting and making out. They were in love and they made plans about the future. They would both get a divorce with their currently spouses, when Carl’s daughter was out of high school in two years.
Carl had never felt so comfortable with anybody but her, and he felt it easy to touch her and be with her. He felt much happier with her, than with his wife. I think it’s kind of strange, that they can have a relationship like that. In the dark. I understand, that they have to keep it a secret, but keeping it for so long? How can they even look their spouses in the eyes, knowing that if they knew, what really was going on, it would break their hearts? If I found out, that my husband – future husband – where cheating on me like that, I would be so, I don’t know, crazy? I don’t know what I would be, I just know, that it wouldn’t be great to be the husband of mine. That’s for sure.
Anyway, unfortunately their dreams about getting married and live happily ever after didn’t come true, because Lily didn’t make it that long. She was in a car accident, and she didn’t make it. Carl was devastated and spent the most of his day thinking in his room. Only at mealtimes, he came out of the dark, and talked with his family.
At the end of the story, Carl talks with a woman named Margaret Finch. Apparently she could make him feel comfortable, like Lily did. He was a little confused, but didn’t thought much about it, he just thought of his family inside the church, helping setting things up for Lily’s funeral.
The task, is telling me to include the symbolism in this short story, but I can’t quite tell. I think the symbolism in this story can be that when you do something bad, like cheating on your wife or husband, there has to happen something bad to yourself. It’s a like the thing called Karma. I mean, it’s called Karma in Danish, I don’t know about English, but it says that “What you give out, you get back” or something like that. But even though I don’t like cheaters, I think it’s sad, that when he finally finds his one true love, she has to die from him. It’s kind of terribly I think. I’m not a follower of cheating, but I know, that you can’t choose who you are going to fall in love with, so it’s not always you have a choice. Or I mean, you always have a choice not to cheat on someone, but you don’t have a choice when it comes to love. Then you just have to follow your heart, and do what’s best for yourself and not think of anybody else but you. So I think, that Carl and Lily, should have ended it with their spouses before they made out. It’s wrong the way they chose to handle it. They would wait till Carl’s daughter was out of high school before they would to anything about it. And that was two years! Two whole years of unfaithful behavior! I can’t believe that someone can do that to another person. I mean, isn’t it hard to lie to your family every single day for over two years. I couldn’t handle a thing like that. That would be too much. And I think you ether has to be really good, or your wife has to be very stupid, not to notice anything for so long. And I mean, very stupid!
The title “The Order of Things” is good. It describes the story quite well. It’s quite like the Karma-thing. The order of things isn’t good in this story. The things aren’t in order. It’s wrong what they’re doing, so there has to be done something, so the universe just involves Lily in an accident, and she dies, and Carl gets the punishment he deserves and then the things are in order again!
Done!