If you haven’t already, read the story now… then read our short interview about the story:
“The Ecstasy of Marv” by Ross McMeekin
May 5
The old, ocean-blue, Cape Cod-style house in decline—a property passed down to somewhat lonely, semi-retired periodontist Ruben Cole from his rumor of an aunt—stood near the bottom of a steep hill descending to a saltwater bay, and when Seattle was blessed with precipitation, the rainwater cascaded down the long, twisting street past the house, gathering mass, pouring a bit of itself into each gutter like how a showy bartender might line up coupe glasses and fill them all with champagne (without stopping the pour). But during rare, fitful, complete-and-utter downpours like this one, when the clouds bulged like Ruben’s belly over the top of his belt, the rain gathered such speed as to hop the gutters to find new routes. One of those routes was over the edge of the Cape Cod’s sloped driveway and down the steps toward the house.
Jessica Dawn: We typically start by asking about how the story came to be, so! What can you tell us about the genesis of this story, where did it come from?
Ross McMeekin: The opening scene shows rain cascading down a steep hill, overflowing the gutters, then flooding the basement of a gentleman’s home. This is drawn directly from two family members who live on a similar hill in Seattle; the same thing happened to them when a storm got really nasty. I felt the urge to write about it, so I started a story and it went sideways from there.
I was really drawn in by the simple and delightfully weird idea of finding a big cave full of wine under your house, and how Ruben just sort of takes this discovery in stride. Near the end of the story you mention that Ruben still has his exercise room over the wine cave, like he hasn't really adjusted his physical day-to-day around this discovery. How did the wine cave come to be as you were writing, and did this evolve over time or was it one of those fully-formed ideas that just sort of drops in your lap?
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