Jane Goes North

by Joe R. Lansdale

“Astrology. You believe that too?” “Sometimes. If it fits.” “Ha.” Henry laughed this time. “I guess I’m just a mess, Jane. I like to have something to believe, even if it’s belief in a bad number. That doesn’t seem to go with my personality, does it?” “I don’t know I’m all that versed in your personality. But I think we all believe certain bullshit. True love. Magic numbers, astrological signs. Maybe we have to. Or some of us have to. I met a man that wasn’t worth the toilet paper to wipe his ass, and I insisted to myself that he was better than he was, and that what I was seeing daily was not the real him, like the real him was hiding in the bathroom.” “Using that toilet paper he wasn’t worth.” “Exactly. My sister, the one who’s wedding I’m going to. We’re never going to be close, and I know that now. I’ve known it all along, but saying it now I know it’s true.” “Why are you going then?” “I was the one that went the wrong way, far as the family was concerned. They all got married about the time they got the first drop of blood in their underpants, and had kids right away. I got married, but I waited a while. And still fucked up. I got married again, and it was just another version of marriage one. I had a run of boyfriends that weren’t all that hot either. I had all these dreams I was going to own my own shop—”