Long Walk to Forever

"Long Walk to Forever" is a short story first published in Ladies' Home Journal in August 1960 and reprinted in Welcome to the Monkey House in 1968 and Complete Stories in 2017.

Plot Summary

Catherine and Newt have known each other since childhood. One day, a soon-to-be married Catherine answers a knock on the door to find Newt, who's still in the army for seven more months and has gone A.W.O.L. Aware that she's getting married in a week to Henry Stewart Chasens, he invites her for a walk, saying he loves her. Slowly strolling through a nearby woods, Catherine says she's honored but it's too late for such a relationship, that they've known each other so long but have never even kissed. Newt says he's not disappointed since he wasn't expecting anything. Catherine suggests they shake hands and part as friends and Newt asks that she remember him now and then, especially how much he loved her. Catherine cries, angry that Newt has waited until now and said that if she felt the same way he would have seen it. Newt kisses her and she tells him he's "hell to get along with" while trying to leave again. He mentions it's thirty days in the stockade for going A.W.O.L. and Catherine replies that she didn't ask him to do it, noting that they've both started walking again. She defends her decision to marry Henry because she loves him. Newt kisses her again. Tired and far from home, the two lay down in an orchard and Newt falls asleep. Catherine watches him lovingly. She wakes him and tells him once again it's too late. Newt leaves and Catherine knows that if he were to turn and call to her, she would run to him. He turns and calls. She runs.

Adaptations

The story was adapted into a 26-minute short, transposed to 1930s Estonia, and used as the first segment of the Soviet Estonian film Karikakramäng, released in 1979. Called Promenaad, it was writer/director Peeter Urbla’s thesis for the USSR Cinema Committee’s two-year course for senior screenwriters and directors, under the supervision of Andrei Tarkovski. Originally a more direct adaptation, it was altered significantly under Tarkovski’s suggestions. It starred Elle Kull and Lembit Ulfsak. A 20-minute English language adaptation was made in 1987, written and directed by John A. Gallagher and starring Denis Leary and Dana Nathan. Another 17-minute adaptation was made in 2014, directed by Jessica Hester, and written by her and Adam Bradley. It starred Amelia Mathews and Brendan Walsh.

Background

In the preface to Welcome to the Monkey House, Vonnegut stated that he included this work—which he called "a sickeningly slick love story" based on an actual afternoon with Jane Marie Cox—"[i]n honor of the marriage that worked" with her. He claimed its original title was "Hell to Get Along With", although author Dan Wakefield stated "neither Kurt nor his agents would have titled a love story sent to a ladies' magazine in the 1950s [sic]" with such a name.

According to Victor Jose, a life-long friend and fellow student at Shortridge High School, the story is close to Vonnegut's life circumstance. He and Jane met in kindergarten and dated in high school. While home on leave in 1944 (not A.W.O.L. as in the story), Vonnegut heard Jane was engaged to a boyfriend at Swarthmore and "appeared on the scene just in time" to persuade her to end that relationship and instead wait for his return from the war.