The Days Before Us by Sejal Bandani

Published digitally by Amazon on April 27, 2023

This short story is part of the Amazon Original Stories series. Specifically, it is part of the Good Intentions collection, a series of stories about “motherly love” (or, in this case, questionable or misunderstood love).

Autumn is a mess. She feels that her mother abandoned her emotionally after her father left. Autumn has regularly received letters from her mother that she hasn’t opened. She won’t tell her husband why she refuses to open the letters, supposedly because she doesn’t know. Her husband has been patient but is drawing away from her for unexplored reasons that presumably extend beyond her failure to read her mail. He might take a job in a different city. He might not want to bring Autumn with him. As she’s about to confront that reality, Autumn realizes she’s pregnant. Well, of course she does, because that’s what happens in domestic dramas. How can Autumn come to understand her mother without becoming a prospective mother herself?

The story addresses Autumn’s internal drama. Surrounding her introspection are two aquatic adventures. In the first, she finds a young dolphin that has separated from its pod, a metaphor for Autumn’s isolated life. It isn’t a great metaphor because the dolphin wants to be part of a pod while Autumn deliberately distances herself from everyone except her friend Callista. Autumn tells Callista all the dark secrets she keeps from her husband. Why can’t she be just as open with her husband? Who knows?

The second adventure pits Autumn against nature when she encounters a storm while sailing alone. That episode is over before it can add dramatic tension to the story.

Instead, the tension is supposed to arise from Autumn's unresolved domestic issues. Will Autumn reconcile with her mother? Will her husband leave her? Will she tell her husband about her pregnancy? Will he change his mind about their seemingly doomed relationship if he learns about the pregnancy? Will a young dolphin teach Autumn that she doesn’t have to be alone?

Readers who care about the answers to such questions might enjoy this story. I regarded it as a humdrum example of domestic fiction. I’m not a fan of the genre so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this story reminded me of the reasons I’m not a fan. A confrontation between mother and pregnant daughter (“you were the best part of me”) is excessively sentimental, as is Autumn’s heartfelt discussion with her husband in the final paragraphs. Autumn learns an obvious lesson but just in case the reader doesn’t get it, Sejal Bandani spells it out at the story’s end. The story is too sophisticated to be gag-worthy, but it’s entirely predictable.

NOT RECOMMENDED