Carver introduced me to the other minimalist writers of that time: to Hemingway, and Cheever. I have often used this story as a good example of dialogue and what is left unsaid. The tragic decision between the couple is not spoken of but it saturates their every word and their every move; and of course, again, alcohol plays centre stage, the beers on the table, the brand Anis del Toro painted on the bead curtain, which acts as a distraction from the painful emotional conundrum the couple are in.
First published August, 1927 in Transition, then later in a short story collection, Men Without Women, Charles Scribner and Son, 1927
A Personal Anthology 