Inge
I didn't know Marcus that well. He was friends with Gary, who in turn was friends with me. Sometimes when I spent time with Gary, or went to Gary's house, or had Gary over, Marcus would be there.
I didn't have a problem with Marcus. I just never got close to him. Which makes this story all the more incredulous.
Marcus wasn't what you'd call a great catch. He wasn't attractive, or strong, or wealthy. He wasn't dumb, but neither was he smart; he straddled the uncomfortable line between being intelligent enough to attract women using his wit, and being foolish enough to settle for a woman that would be happy with an idiot.
He was a pleasant enough fellow, although some of the beliefs he professed were just odd. Also, every now and then, he would say something that would leave everyone around him agape. So it was no surprise that he'd never had a girlfriend.
Gary said that the one thing that Marcus wanted more than anything was to find a wife. It's enough to break your heart.
* * *
Marcus must have been twenty-seven when he went on vacation in Germany. He was there for two weeks, touring the whole country, from the Bavarian Alps to the Black Forest, stopping at Externsteine in the west, and in Wilhelmshaven on the northern coast to see the old frigates.
Gary met him at the airport when he returned. The two old friends greeted each other warmly, smiling as they embraced. For a moment, Gary didn't notice the young woman waiting close by, but soon realised that she was standing near them, not moving towards the exit as everyone else was.
‘Hello,’ intoned Gary deeply. ‘Who's this?’
Marcus took a step back, grinning insanely. ‘This is Inge,’ he answered, one hand on Gary's shoulder, his other at Inge's waist. The young lady stepped forward, smiling quietly but broadly as she took Gary's hand in her own. She was very beautiful, not quite six feet tall, with long chocolate hair that waved gently around a broad triangular face carrying features that were somehow strong and delicate at the same time. Her smile was wide, warm and inviting, with just a hint of teeth showing between the thin round lips.
‘She's my wife,’ continued Marcus.
Gary was overwhelmed with Inge's amiable beauty; his friend's words didn't register at first. ‘I—I'm sorry. Your wife?’
‘Yup.’ Marcus beamed proudly, and Inge blushed coyly, her hair swishing around to shield her face as she lowered her head demurely. Gary knew that in that one movement, she could capture men's hearts. She probably had. If he weren't already married, she'd have captured his. She may have anyway.
‘Oh, well, uh... that—that's great!’ Gary gave his friend a hearty thwap on the back, and instinctively reached out to give Inge a hug. She returned his embrace, her arms powerful around him. She smelled somewhat primal, though not unpleasant.
They retrieved their luggage and followed Gary to his car. They drove home, as Marcus retold of his travels. Inge sat quietly in the backseat. She didn't speak; she smiled when someone said something funny, but even then made no sound. Not even when Marcus told the tale of meeting a couple from New York City that were afraid to pet a cow because they thought it would bite them.
Eventually, the story came to the point in which Marcus journeyed to Freiburg, near the Black Forest, where he met Inge. They'd fallen in love immediately, and were married within a week.
‘So, Inge,’ Gary called back to his passenger, ‘have you been to America before?’
She looked up at him, meeting his gaze through the rear-view mirror, but before she could respond, Marcus answered, ‘She doesn't like to talk.’
‘Why not? Doesn't she speak English? Man, now I wish I'd studied something besides French.’
‘No, she speaks perfect English. She just doesn't like to talk.’
‘Oh. Uh, okay. That's good too.’
The drive from the Asheville airport to Little Switzerland takes about half an hour. Marcus recited the details of his vacation zealously for the entire drive, while Gary listened intently, and Inge sat quietly in the back, occasionally smiling that luminous, captivating, rapturous smile.
Inge and Marcus were a unit. They never went anywhere without one another. Gary had asked if Inge had any interests or hobbies or friends of her own. Marcus had replied that she liked all the same things and people that he did. ‘That,’ according to Marcus, ‘is just one of many reasons that we're perfect for each other.’
* * *
Indeed, they seemed always to be just as Gary had described. Inge would sit near her husband, not speaking, smiling when everyone laughed, and prettily, demurely, wordlessly, listening when anyone talked. There was one time when someone described a pet that had died, and Inge shed a single soundless tear, that glistened softly on her gossamer cheek. In that single sibilantly silent drop was the heartbreak of a thousand souls.
There was one thing that Gary did not notice; at no point did Inge break contact with Marcus. If she wasn't resting her hand on his shoulder or his knee, she was leaning into him, or pressing her hips into his, or entwining ankles.
Perhaps it was his exuberant happiness, or maybe just a continuing streak of good fortune, but Marcus became quite prosperous. He got a new job, came into a sizeable inheritance when his great aunt died, and within a year of his return from Germany, had bought a moderate estate outside of town. It was a rustic wooden house surrounded by the natural splendour of the Pisgah National Forest. They lived there ever afterwards, and became wealthier with each passing month, as investments paid off and gambles were rewarded. They had three children, each healthy and intelligent.
Five years after they bought their new house, they attended one of Gary's parties. Their behaviour had not changed. Oddly enough, Inge's appearance had not changed either. She looked just as she had when she first arrived at the airport.
Marcus, however, looked very different. Although he'd been married to Inge for just under six years, he looked as though he'd aged fifteen. His hair was nearly completely gray, and his skin had begun to sag.
Gary was worried as well. Marcus refused to talk about it; whenever it came up, he always changed the subject to how wonderful his wife was, and how in love with her he was.
Their prosperity continued to increase, and so did Marcus's apparent age. Gary spoke of liver spots and wrinkles that Marcus was showing at thirty-seven. Inge had still not appeared to grow older.
Marcus died last year. He was forty-two, although he looked ninety. His doctors had been continually baffled that his body was behaving like it was that old. He had suffered kidney failure.
Gary visited Marcus in the hospital just before the end. That was when he explained everything.
‘She's a wish wife,’ Marcus said. ‘They're a kind of spirit living in the forests of Germany. She offered to love me, to be my wife.’
‘That's crazy,’ Gary had remarked. ‘They must be giving you some great drugs.’
‘I'm serious. I never told you the full story of how I met her.’
‘You said you met her in Germany. In the town of... Freeburg?’
‘Freiburg. That's where I was staying. I went out to hike through the Black Forest, but I left the path. I wanted to see a part of the forest that wasn't commonly visited.’
He paused there, apparently tired. Gary waited patiently for Marcus to continue.
‘She stepped out of a tree. She told me her name... She said she would love me, be my wife, give me children. She said that I would become wealthy and prosperous, whatever I decided to do. And she was so beautiful.’
‘Go on,’ Gary urged.
‘That wasn't all. Just having her love me; it's the most wonderful feeling in the world. And the sex! I know I was a virgin when I met her, but I can tell that I would never enjoy sex with anyone as much as I did with her.’
‘Why would she do this?’ asked Gary.
‘She needed my life force. It's what spirits like her eat. It's why I've been ageing so rapidly. She's been draining my life energy.’
Gary was shocked. ‘Why would you agree to that?’
‘To have her love me, even for a few years, is worth any price.’
They were quiet for some time after that. Eventually, Marcus spoke again. ‘We had to live in the forest. That was part of the deal. She needs to be near a lot of trees. She's tied to them.’
‘And she didn't talk because...?’
‘That was the other condition. She would only talk to me. And her sons.’
‘Why?’
Marcus was quiet for a moment. It seemed to Gary that he was caught in a pleasant memory, as if he was remembering the sound of her speech. ‘She has the most beautiful voice,’ he finally spoke. ‘If you'd heard it, you'd know she wasn't human. I wish you could have heard her. You'd know.’
* * *
He died a couple days after that. I was overcome with curiosity after Gary told me the story. I went out to their old house in the forest. She was sitting on the porch, like she expected me.
‘Gary told me what Marcus said. I've looked it up. There are stories of wish wives in German folk tales. Is that really what you are?’
She just smiled at me. She glanced down at her toes, trailing listlessly in the dirt as her legs dangled off the edge of the porch. Then she stood up, kissed me gently on the cheek, and went inside.
I never saw her again.
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