Summary

In “Out,” the narrator sits “at the dining table” across from her husband, watching the “lightning illuminate the night,” and the neighbor collecting laundry “from the line” (177). She knows her husband knows what she has to say, but cannot say it. She tells herself to do so, “because it’s part of the punishment” she deserves (178). Still, she cannot get herself to speak.

She is wearing a towel on her head and a bathrobe, as she recently showered. Suddenly she feels an inexplicable impulse to get up. She stands and moves towards the front door, all the while telling herself she has “to say something” (178, Schweblin’s italics). She ignores her husband’s gaze and concentrates on slowly exiting the apartment.

In the hall, the elevator opens “and a man peers out” (179). Inside, he asks her for the time. She studies him, unable to...