Laura Giunta Extra Credit

From Aimee Bender's Willful Creatures I read the short story, The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers. I chose to read this story because it sounded interesting to me. It was about a reporter trying to understand a murder between a husband and wife. The couple had both independently chose the same day and same time to murder each other. The wife stabbed the husband with a knife, and the husband killed her with poison. The way they died was easily found after the coroner examined their bodies, but this was not the story the reporter wanted, he saw more. The true mystery he wanted to solve was why the married couple had fourteen salt and pepper shakers in their house, it was not normal. The couple had a chef that lived with them for the past 25 years of their marriage and luckily she knew them very well. The wife liked salt and the husband liked pepper. The husband and wife believed they completed each other because of this, like their other half. The chef said the reason for the excessive amount of shakers was because they bought a new set for their anniversary every year. The reporter realized there were only fourteen though after being married for 26 years. As the couple grew older the husband could no longer handle spicy food which meant pepper, and the wife acquired high blood pressure which meant no more salt. This problem tore them apart, but in the end as they were lying on the floor together dying they finally had reached the ultimate gesture of compromise. So happily they were able to die together almost happily.