Today is Independence Day
by William Hanley

THE STORY: It is the morning of a sultry July 4th.

Evalyn, rouses her husband, Sam.

Sam's arm is in a cast, having been broken fighting off an attempt to hijack his taxi.

But Sam doesn't want to talk about this for he is unsure of his wife's motives.

Their ensuing conversation is filled with barbs and subtle rebukes.

But it is evident that Evalyn has reached a point of critical re-evaluation, and, amidst their attempts to hurt each other, she tells Sam that she loves him.

He reacts as though too much had already been done to destroy the very thing which Evalyn is trying to hold on to.

The conversation turns to other matters, but it is soon brought up short by Evalyn's admission that she is undergoing psychiatric treatment.

The confession is a measure of her desperate unhappiness and the thing which makes Sam resolve to leave her.

But as he is preparing to go a messenger arrives with flowers for Evalyn's birthday—which Sam had not forgotten despite all.

Somehow this small act of concern brings a sense of release to both of them, as though their crisis, while not resolved, had been ameliorated by a new awareness that what they have together is all there will be for both of them and they must make the best of it.