Our Wives Under the Sea

Miri’s wife, Leah, has returned from some kind of expedition. While she has been home for a month, she does not seem to be readjusting or recuperating properly: She suffers from nosebleeds and flinches at the slightest touch. She is also oddly quiet about what happened. Miri tries to call the Centre—the organization for which Leah works—for more information, to no avail.

Leah is preoccupied with the ocean. Her expedition was a submarine research mission wherein something went wrong. As the submarine began its descent, the crew smelled a strong scent of cooked meat; then the communications panel, followed by the whole system, seemed to switch off. Leah and her fellow explorers, Jelka and Matteo, are cut off from the Centre.

Miri recounts how their lives together used to be versus how they are now: Leah does not eat anymore and locks herself in the bathroom for hours, listening to her sound machine and running the water. Miri tries to work—she writes grants for nonprofit entities—but is distracted, not only by Leah’s odd behavior but also by the neighbors’ television set playing loudly at all hours.