Half & Half- sub story Chef's House

Total words: 1755
Chef’s House Edna was a middle age woman, living separated from her husband. She is the one narrating this story to us. She was married to Wes, who betrayed her for his girl friend. But at last he again calls us and this beautiful story takes a plot. According to Edna, Wes rented a furnished house from a recovered alcoholic Chef. He asked Edna to move up there and live with him. Edna denied first time when he asked for it but he called her again and described how beautiful location that house had. He described the ocean view from the window and smell of salt in the air. He was making his offer to live with him more tempting by these descriptions of natural beauty. Edna again answered to think about it and let him know later. She said that she will think about it and let him know. But a week after he called her again and she still had the same answer of thinking about it. But since Wes kept insisting on it, she kept a condition for him. She said “I want you to try and be the Wes I used to know. The old Wes. The Wes I married.” This shows that Edna did loved Wes. Their beginning marriage life must be wonderful for Edna, for she keeps recalling the old Wes and wants the present one to be like him. It may be a dream for her to get her love back, the way it was long time ago, when she married him. She didn’t want to hear any thing about his affairs and probably that was the reason, she wanted him to forget everything and be hers by flying back in the time. Listening this condition, Wes started crying. This may be the sign of his emotional breakdown. Edna took it positive and realized that may be he is repenting for what he did and is willing to put their life together back to normal. Wes quit his girlfriend or may be she did, Edna didn’t knew in details and mentions “Wes had quit his girlfriend, or she’d quit him- I didn’t know, didn’t care.” To this it’s pretty explainable how she did care for his relation with his girlfriend and mentioned in this little story. Finally Edna thought of taking the chance of living with him and moves with him. To this her friend suggested that it may be a mistake. And she shouldn’t leave him. But Edna always loved Wes and always looked at his positive side more than his harshness and disloyalty. Thus she moved with him in that gorgeous location. Edna showed her willingness to live with Wes only for summer and see if he is changed and if not then back to her friend. To this her friend warned her not to be back to him. Edna describes how she and Wes drank coffee, pop, and all kinds of fruit juices during that summer. This can be related to the very fun life or we can say playful days they had. It reminds us of vacation, no worries, shopping, enjoying all kind of fruits and food and thus relaxing. Edna was extremely happy with Wes and wished that her vacation shouldn’t end. After a month being with Wes, she wore her wedding ring back. She took it off for 2 yrs when Wes was drunk and threw his ring into a peach orchard. Wes had very little money, so Edna didn’t work. And it happened that Chef was renting them house for almost nothing. They had no telephone. But they did have facility of gas and light. One Sunday Wes went out to get a sprinkler and got a bunch of daises for Edna. They had a very relaxing and enjoying life for every Tuesday they went for movies. And other nights he would hang out with the Chef to what he called non drinking meetings for Chef was recovered alcoholic. Edna and Wes would go fishing and fry the fishes in their supper that evening. They had a really romantic time together fishing for Edna explains how she use to lie in the boat, look at the clouds and fell asleep. Wes would carry her in his arms and ask her if she was still his girl. Thus it seems that both had really good time together. One afternoon Wes was in the yard pulling weeds when Chef stopped by. Edna describes it as “I looked and saw Chef’s big car pull in. I could see his car, the access road and the freeway, and behind the freeway, the dunes and the ocean. Clouds hung over the water. Chef got out of his car and hitched his pants. I knew there was something.” To this Edna uses personification to explain the tension of the situation. When clouds take over the sunlight and pass in the sky above the ocean, everything looks dark, tensed, as if we need some oxygen, some air to breathe and some light to continue our living. Same way Edna doubted on Chef’s visit for she knew there must be some bad news or something going on. And her doubts came true when he declared that Wes and Edna should move out for one of his daughter Linda needed a place to live. Chef was extremely sorry for this but he was in need too. Wes and Edna weren’t happy to hear that. They had really good time together and some unforgettable cherished moments. That place was something to them. They sat inside the house and started looking at the furniture and carpet with the thought that it belongs to Chef and not them. Thus after spending so much good time together, Wes and Edna almost forgot that the house belongs to Chef and not them. To them everything was beautiful and elegant. The whole world belongs to them because they were in love and surprisingly together. Wes was unhappy to hear this. He was totally depressed. He mentions how it had been a happy house for them. To this Edna consoles him stating that everything will be fine. They just need to find another house. She also adds up how Chef needs to do what he has to. To this Wes becomes angry and replies that he is not suppose to like whatever Chef does. He kept his fingers on the chin and started thinking about something. He sat next to Edna and started playing with his shirt buttons. To this, Edna took his hands in hers and started reminding him the good time they had in that summer. But somehow the conversation leads to their kids. It was then that Wes mentions about the hatred he gets from his kids. Edna consoles again saying that his children do love him. But Wes answers to this that they don’t. He said “he wished he could do it over again and do it right this time.” Thus realizes his place in the relationships and wants to start over again. May be that was the reason he kept calling Edna to come see him. So he can put his life together. But Edna takes all these signs as negative for she remembers how scene was a repetition from past and that lead them finally to broke up. Wes looked at her and thanked her for coming up to see him. Edna was taken by this emotional moment and thus asks him to suppose that nothing had ever happened and the things happened for first time. Wes stared at her. He knew the reality and insisted that it could be possible only if they are different people. Some body they are not. He was angry again. Edna adds to it “I hadn’t thrown away a good thing and come six hundred miles to hear him talk like this.” Thus there was a little fight and both of them were at the same place they were before, the verge of breaking up. Wes was sorry for being rude but at the same time didn’t want to be somebody else but just himself. To this Edna replied that it was alright and took his hand to put it on her cheek. It was then she could see the flashback of her life. In her words,” I remembered how he was when he was nineteen, the way he looked running across this field to where his dad sat on a tractor, handover his eyes, watching Wes run toward him. We’d just driven up from California. I got out with Cheryl and Bobby and said, there’s Grandpa. But they were just babies.” Thus Edna could see how her life changed from a youth full of life to this point when she was lonely and everything was falling apart. Edna looked around and asked Wes to listen to her. To this he asked what she wanted. It seemed to her that maybe he made up his mind. He was silent. She called his name twice but he couldn’t hear it. At last she called his name loudly when he opened his eyes. But he didn’t look at her. Edna mentions that “she was nothing. Just a name.” To this we can say that, since Edna is the one writing this story or narrating we can say, it must be the way she felt and not Wes did. Carver is putting down the feelings of Edna and not Wes. Otherwise it would have been Wes, thinking like that and not Edna telling that to us. Thus she gets up and starts frying fish for their supper. “Wes got up and pulled the drapes and the ocean was gone just like that.” Thus the ocean is personified as the good time they had together. Ocean is a treasure for it contains lots of water, ships and valuables that sink in it. Just like that, summer vacation was a really good time for Edna for she was with the man she loved and to her everything was getting normal. But in the end, it’s gone suddenly. To Edna that was a treasure, but now Wes took it away with him. “There wasn’t much else. We’ll clean it up tonight, I thought, and that will be the end of it.” Thus Edna feels how nothing was left after all these. Like there was no hope for her. To her there was nothing to think about, or talk about. It was the end of their relationship.

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