Then he had things to tell her about himself. The fact that he had produced a condom did not mean that he was a regular seducer. In fact, she was only the second person he had gone to bed with, the first being his wife. He had been brought up in a fiercely religious household and still believed in God, to some extent. He kept that a secret from his wife, who would have made a joke of it, being very left-wing.
Corrie said she was glad that what they were doing—what they had just done—appeared not to bother him, in spite of his belief. She said that she herself had never had any time for God, because her father was enough to cope with.
-From Alice Munro’s 2010 short story, “Corrie,” published in The New Yorker and recommended by author Elliott Holt: “Alice Munro writes so well about secrets. ‘Corrie’ is a suspenseful story about adultery and blackmail, about illness and faith, and about the compromises we make for happiness.”
Photo: Kyle Lanningham, YouTube
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