The Honeymoon's Over

Chapter One

Daniela Kuper

It's 1971 and Ram Dass has recently come out with Be Here Now. You read it in the Chevy to the sound of sweat plopping on plain brown pages in the unbreathable southern Illinois summer. You read the whole thing without stopping, easy because it's mostly pictures and thoughts you've never seen words for.

This is what you take from the book: Underneath this life, which is mostly ego and lies, sits another life that smells like sweet peas-a dormant life that smells like Dad when he was in one of his good moods doing magic tricks for the family. He could take his thumb apart, wiggle both halves, and make cousin Johnny cry till he cemented it back together. He could put the lit part of a cigar inside his mouth and puff. Sometimes he'd make it disappear. He was a traveling chocolate salesman, who once gave his paycheck to an Indian with a sad story. He brought home two gifts you remember: ... read full excerpt from: The Honeymoon's Over: True Stories of Love, Marriage, and Divorce ebook