The Husbands

When Lauren understands that her attic will magically supply her with a new husband whenever she wants, she is relieved and excited about her ability to control the outcome. Since each man who appears is someone whom, at one point in her life, she must have chosen to marry, she believes that each must possess some quality that makes him well-suited to be a marital partner. Her task, then, is to root out and eliminate the poor choices in search of the best husband. Since she can reject husbands simply by sending them to retrieve an item from the attic, Lauren is initially able to avoid any unpleasantness. She never has to hurt a husband’s feelings or justify to him her reasons for rejecting him as a partner. If a problem arises in her life, she rarely confronts it head-on. Instead, she waits it out until she can exchange the husband, thus “resetting” her life. Lauren loves and quickly grows to rely on the control the attic gives her. She is certain that its magic allows her to dictate her own future, that by discerning the “correct” husband, she will be able to arrange for herself an ideal life.