LT's Theory of Pets

L. T. is a talker, a man who collects stories and anecdotes and hands them out freely. Over a long lunch, he gives the narrator his best one, and it is about his marriage.

The story starts with two animals. L. T. takes in a stray dog, and the dog seems to despise him from the first day. He also buys a sleek cat as a gift for his wife, and the cat adores him.

The pets get along perfectly well with each other. The people in the house do not. The tension between L. T. and his wife keeps growing until it becomes unbearable, and the pets' easy peace only sharpens the contrast.

One night, after a heated argument, his wife leaves, saying she is going to her mother's. L. T. never sees her again. The narrator hears the story across a table, then learns later what really happened to her, and the truth is violent and bleak.