Bob-Waksberg - Someone who will love you in all your damaged glory: stories

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A . KNOPF

Copyright 2019 by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Owing to limitations on space, information on previously published material appears on page 245.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bob-Waksberg, Raphael, [date] author.

Title: Someone who will love you in all your damaged glory : stories / by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2019].

Identifiers: LCCN 2018042971 (print) | LCCN 2018046016 (ebook) | ISBN 9781524732028 (ebook) | ISBN 9781524732011 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Classification: LCC PS3602.O255 (ebook) | LCC PS3602.O255 A6 2019 (print) |

DDC 813/.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018042971

Ebook ISBN9781524732028

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover images: (head) illustration by Justin Metz; (feet) George Sheldon/Alamy; (hands) Fabrice LeRouge/Getty Images

Cover design by Tyler Comrie

v5.4

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For Dahvi, the house where my heart lives

The date is going well . Hes handsome, and charming, and everything he claimed to be on the website. She likes him, she decides. Hes the kind of guy you could introduce to your friends, she decides.

After dinner, he invites her back to his place. He opens a bottle of wine and pours her a glass. He also offers her a tall, skinny can with a rubber lid: Salted circus cashew?

Whats a circus cashew? she asks.

Open it up, he says. See for yourself.

She looks at the can. The label says, The Cashew Companys Very Own, and then in big, bold letters, SALTED CIRCUS CASHEWS, and then in smaller letters, TASTY! SALTY!, and then in even smaller letters, INGREDIENTS: CASHEWS, SALT, and then on the side theres a drawing of a man with a whipa lion tamerthe whole design of the can is circus themedand the lion tamer has a speech balloon coming out of his mouth and inside the speech balloon it says, HELLO, FRIENDS! Please enjoy these freshly salted circus cashews, courtesy of The Cashew Company. Made with the finest ingredients, combined to perfection, this can contains only the best salted circus cashews; there certainly isnt a fake snake wrapped around a spring that will jump out and startle you when you remove the top, if thats what you were thinking. No, no, perish the thought, only cashews here, I swear to God. I am being one hundred percent sincere about the cashews. Why would there be a snake in here? Thats crazy talk. Look: if you open this can and a pretend snake jumps out at you, then you have my permission to never trust me again, but why would you want to miss out on the opportunity to eat delicious salted cashews just because of the slight off-chance that this is all an elaborate ruse to make you appear foolish? Okay, I see you are still not opening the can. And I understand that. Maybe you are right to be cautious. You have been lied to before, after all. Your heart is weathered and scarred, mishandled by many, eroded by time. Youre no dummy, and yet repeatedly, you stumble over the cracks of your cobblestone heart, you let your naked foolish hopes get the better of you. Per-haps every can of cashews has a fake snake lurking, but you keep opening them, stupidly, because in your heart of hearts you still believe in cashews. And every time you discover the cruel fiction of the cashew can, you swear to yourself youll trust a little less next time, youll be a little less open, a little more hard. Its not worth it, you say. It just isnt worth it. Youre smarter than all that. From now on, youre going to be smarter. Well, Im here to tell you that this time will be different, even though I have absolutely no evidence to support that claim. Open this can and everything will be okay. The salted circus cashews are waiting. They are so savory and delicious. You will be so glad you put your faith in me. This time is different; I promise you its different. Why would I lie to you? Why would I want to hurt you? This time there is no snake waiting. This time things are going to be wonderful.