"He Made Her Feel As If She Belonged Not Only to Him but to a Whole Tradition"

They say "Less is more," but is that true? In the case of today's story, the answer is definitely yes . . .

"The Good Husband."

By Evelyn E. Smith (1922-2000; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Fantastic Universe, August 1955.

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "He hadn't been lying about his family."

IT'S SAID THAT men develop an itch to return to the carefree bachelor life after they've 

been married a while. Not John, though; time and again he proves that he really is a 

"good husband" . . .

Main characters:

~ Ellen ("would find life lonely without John") and John ("he went to a gravestone 

behind the big tree that concealed most of the cemetery from the overlooking 

windows and disappeared").

Resources:

- The editor of Fantastic Universe once opined:

  "Few writers excel Evelyn E. Smith in the difficult art of instilling a witty and rapier-like irony into stories as innocent of guile as a rosy cherub at a flower show." (HERE)

- A long time ago we ran across Evelyn Smith's non-SFFnal "Really It Was Quite Simple" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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