Summary

In "The Little Wife," Gail and Max Chernoff flew to visit Fox Whitelaw, Max’s old college roommate who was dying of cancer. On the plane Max practiced a Beethoven piece he and Fox hoped to play together. In the first section of the story, there is an anecdote, supposedly by Beethoven. It compares a woman’s behind to that of the “beloved pigs of my youth” (p. 243). Fox told Max not to believe that this saying was one of Beethoven’s.

Fox and Max had met when they were roommates in college. Gail had questioned Fox about the match as the two had little in common either in interests, religion, or backgrounds. The roommates had become connected by music when Fox began playing a magnificent cello. Before graduating college, Fox had married the aristocratic Sophia. Sophia and Fox had a daughter...