The Engagements

by J. Courtney Sullivan

She mostly thought it was worth it, though sometimes she suspected that homeownership was just another way in which a capitalist society took hold of your life and refused to let go. What did it mean to own the house? They could plant flowers and tear down cabinets without consulting a landlord. So what? They could take pride in owning something. Why?

Her sister wasn’t a bad person, and she wasn’t dumb. She just believed, like a lot of people did, that life was hard enough and there was no reason to trouble yourself with the plight of strangers.

“Once you live long enough, you’ll see that the world has always been crazy,” Gerald said. “It’s always falling apart, but it never completely crumbles.”