{"id":80609,"date":"2014-12-08T17:26:25","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T22:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=80609"},"modified":"2014-12-08T17:26:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T22:26:25","slug":"hand-in-glove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand in Glove"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"14782407194_71f255a821_k\"<\/a>

From The Saturday Evening Post<\/i>, 1839.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few weeks ago, my mom called. This is not in itself unusual, and she had important news: she\u2019d sighted the Barefoot Contessa and her husband on the self-checkout line at the supermarket. I was naturally interested, but I happened to be in the middle of something. I was about to excuse myself when she said, in tones of great distress, \u201cOh God. Oh no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d I said, alarmed. \u201cIs everything okay? What is it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her reply was muffled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I repeated. \u201cAre you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, once again audible. \u201cBut \u2026 there\u2019s a really nice glove on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked it up,\u201d she continued. \u201cShould I take it to the police?\u201d <\/p>\n

It was hard not to think about the time my maternal grandfather had rescued a half-eaten sourdough bread bowl from off the beach. Or the time the same grandfather had braked so hard he nearly caused an accident because he needed to retrieve a tennis ball he\u2019d spotted by the side of the road. Or, for that matter, the many sheds that scarred his property, built to house all these spoils. \u201cWe\u2019ll never do that to you,\u201d my mother promised, when she and my dad mounted a large tag sale last summer. (Boxes retrieved from the attic included those labeled GERMAN POW BOOKENDS<\/small> and MISC. SMALL TREASURES<\/small>.)<\/p>\n

I chose to forget this depressing incident, and largely succeeded. We spoke numerous times in the following weeks, and the glove did not come up again. Then, a few nights ago, I met her for dinner at a German restaurant in Manhattan. It was filled with evergreens, and the festive atmosphere and hearty food were a perfect fit for the weather. In the course of the evening, we talked frankly about challenges in my life and hers, her family\u2019s history of migraines and depression. We laughed a lot and shared a single entr\u00e9e, as is our wont.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Late in the meal, I went to the ladies\u2019 room. When I returned, there was a brown suede glove sitting on the table. My heart sank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I said suspiciously, although I knew full well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the glove,\u201d she said. \u201cThe one I found on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you carrying it in your purse?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case I find the owner,\u201d she said, not meeting my eyes, \u201cor something.\u201d As she spoke she slipped the glove onto her left hand. \u201cYou see how fine it is,\u201d she said dreamily. \u201cIt has shearling lining. Would you like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I would not,\u201d I said severely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next morning, I took a walk through the park. I had paused to snip a clandestine sprig of holly from a bush just beyond the fence when my eye was caught by something at the edge of the path: a black leather glove.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rarely in life are we offered such a clear choice. And I will admit, my first impulse was to snatch it up. But instead, here is what I did: I tucked it into a crack in the fence near where it had fallen, so it was visible from the path. And on second thought, I decided not to snatch that sprig of holly.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, my mom called. This is not in itself unusual, and she had important news: she\u2019d sighted the Barefoot Contessa and her husband on the self-checkout line at the supermarket. I was naturally interested, but I happened to be in the middle of something. I was about to excuse myself when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[12511,16298,9926,16300,11892,16299,125,16297],"class_list":["post-80609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-city-life","tag-fixation","tag-gloves","tag-happenstance","tag-hoarding","tag-lost-and-found","tag-new-york-city","tag-obsession"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHand in Glove<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As she spoke she slipped the glove onto her left hand. \u201cYou see how fine it is,\u201d she said dreamily. \u201cIt has shearling lining. Would you like it?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hand in Glove by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 8, 2014 \u2013 A few weeks ago, my mom called. This is not in itself unusual, and she had important news: she\u2019d sighted the Barefoot Contessa and her husband on the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1446\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1376\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Hand in Glove\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\"},\"wordCount\":559,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"City Life\",\"fixation\",\"gloves\",\"happenstance\",\"hoarding\",\"lost and found\",\"New York City\",\"obsession\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\",\"name\":\"Hand in Glove\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"As she spoke she slipped the glove onto her left hand. \u201cYou see how fine it is,\u201d she said dreamily. \u201cIt has shearling lining. Would you like it?\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hand in Glove\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hand in Glove","description":"As she spoke she slipped the glove onto her left hand. \u201cYou see how fine it is,\u201d she said dreamily. \u201cIt has shearling lining. Would you like it?\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hand in Glove by Sadie Stein","og_description":"December 8, 2014 \u2013 A few weeks ago, my mom called. This is not in itself unusual, and she had important news: she\u2019d sighted the Barefoot Contessa and her husband on the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1446,"height":1376,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Hand in Glove","datePublished":"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/"},"wordCount":559,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg","keywords":["City Life","fixation","gloves","happenstance","hoarding","lost and found","New York City","obsession"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/","name":"Hand in Glove","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg","datePublished":"2014-12-08T22:26:25+00:00","description":"As she spoke she slipped the glove onto her left hand. \u201cYou see how fine it is,\u201d she said dreamily. \u201cIt has shearling lining. Would you like it?\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/14782407194_71f255a821_k.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/hand-in-glove\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hand in Glove"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80609"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80623,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80609\/revisions\/80623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}