Say Yes

Say Yes Summary | Detailed Summary

The story begins as an unnamed husband is in the kitchen helping his wife, Ann, with the dishes, as he does every night. In fact, he is happy to help with the dishes because it lets him show how his wife how considerate he is, proving that he is sensitive to her needs. As well, as they go through their normal chores, they talk and, as they do, the conversation turns to interracial marriage and the fact that the husband is against it.

The wife is rather surprised at the husband's response and wants to know why he thinks that black people should not marry white people. The husband's explanation is that white people and black people come from different cultures and they would not be able to know each other truly in their marriage. However, the wife continually asks him to clarify the fact that he is saying that they would be different and "Not the same, like us." (2) This leaves the husband flustered, since he is not sure what she is driving at.

Their conversation is cut off when the wife accidentally stabs herself on a knife that was lying in the dirty dishwater, but the husband quickly comes to her aid. He immediately helps her stop the bleeding, and he gets the cut cleaned and bandaged very quickly. Then, despite the husband's wishes, the wife picks up the conversation right where the left it off, and she asks him if he would not have married her if she had been black.

The husband immediately tries to avoid the question, but the wife will not have it. She wants an answer as to whether he would have married her if she had been entirely the same, except black. Thus, backed into a corner, the husband admits that, no, he would not have married her if she were black.

The wife is not happy about this, and she storms off into another room, where she angrily flips through a magazine, hurting him with her indifference. Of course, the husband cannot do anything but get back at his wife by showing his indifference to her, so he finishes the dishes, then scours the entire kitchen until it is spotless.

After cleaning the kitchen and taking the garbage out, the husband returns to the house to find that his wife has gone into the bathroom. Eager to get back on his wife's good side, the husband walks outside the door and promises to make it up to her. When she asks how, he says, "I'll marry you." (6) However, she merely responds, "We'll see," (6) and tells him to go to bed.

Once he is in bed, the husband waits for his wife to come. However, instead of entering the room, she tells him to turn off the light. Then, once the light is out, she quietly walks across the room and, as she does, the husband realizes that she sounds like a stranger.