Funland (short story)

The story is told by a third-person omniscient narrator.

Eugene Ehrhart is driving his eight-year-old daughter, Wendy, to the hospital where his wife has been committed since April following a nearly fatal physical and mental collapse. Father and daughter have since resided at home in near isolation and increasing squalor. Wendy has not seen her mother in eight months, and Ehrhart deflects (through subterfuge) efforts by his mother-in-law to make contact with her granddaughter. Wendy shows no enthusiasm to visit the hospital.

En route they stop at a restaurant for lunch and Ehrhart reflects on his relationship with his two dependents. He oscillates between a tough love disciplinary approach to rearing his daughter and a benevolent indulgence. He monitors himself to control his own volatile impulses. He finds the child's increasing withdrawal from him unjust and offensive. She appears to have become a compulsive liar and prone to tantrums when reprimanded. On one occasion, in a rage, he administered her a severe spanking, leaving both in tears.

Ehrhart is a high-functioning white-collar employee at Jerome A. Andrews & Associates, yet believes his performance is under hostile scrutiny, and fears he will be forced to resign. He doodles compulsively, sometimes drawing lewd representations of the female body, which he furtively shreds.

Ehrhart vividly recalls scenes finding his wife in a catatonic state in the bathtub, anorexic and near death. He remembers considering for a moment drowning her in the bath water, then feeling only pity for himself at his sinful thoughts.

Their restaurant meal finished, Ehrhart is enraged that Wendy has made a mess of her ice-cream sundae and decides to punish her. Paying the bill, he gratuitously blurts out to the cashier that his wife had been dead since April. Wendy runs to the parking lot, sobbing, and Ehrhart apologizes for her rudeness to the cashier. Father and daughter continue on their journey. Wendy falls asleep in the front seat.

Ehrhart is disgusted that his child does not attend to her personal hygiene: Wendy fails to bathe or change her clothing regularly. He muses casually as to whether he might engineer an accidental death for Wendy if she fell, or was pushed, out of the moving vehicle, then quickly assures himself that his daughter is in no danger from himself. They are now over 20 miles past the turnoff to the hospital, crossing the Hudson River. He wonders if the car, if plunged from the bank into the freezing waters, would result in a quick death for the two of them.

Wendy awakens and Ehrhart informs her they are going to Mel's Funland as a reward for her good behavior. Mel's is a cheap roadside attraction for teens and small children; a petting zoo, a video arcade, bingo games and rancid food are its chief attractions. Despite the sordid surrounding, Ehrhart experiences a sudden euphoria. He drinks a beer to celebrate and is instantly inebriated. Feeling magnanimous, he indulges his daughter and allows her to ride the merry-go-round. Seeing other parents on the contraption, he boards and mounts a replica donkey. He and Wendy are ecstatic and cavort with one another. Ehrhart is overwhelmed by a sense of optimism and makes plans for the future. He forgives the world its trespasses.