THE STORY: Lonnie, a married but lonely truck driver, and Nickie, his mistress, a married but lonely hardware store clerk, meet twice a week in an apartment to talk and kiss. They have chosen a day to tell their spouses they are leaving them, but when the day comes, there is a message on Lonnie’s answering machine: “You’re a dead man.” Lonnie wants to put off telling their spouses until he finds out who is after him, but when Nickie’s brother, Al, reveals that Lonnie left his own message on the machine, Lonnie admits to being too scared to make the big move. Lonnie loses his secret life, but he realizes he loves his wife and that all this is for the best anyway.
“Edward Allan Baker’s A DEAD MAN’S APARTMENT is a hilarious farce about a Providence couple having a noon-time affair. They seem dimwitted and crude but in fact both have rather shrewd instincts, which Baker delineates with great storytelling skill.” —New York Daily News.
Included in the collection
A Dead Man’s Apartment, Rosemary with Ginger, Face Divided.
