In "The Cape" by Dionne Irving, characters Mina and Neel had once had an exciting, scandalous courtship. He was her professor when she was a university student. They marry and grow into the routines of that relationship over many years. We soon realize that Mina may have neglected her own interests to become Neel’s wife. Those interests rise to the surface while they are away, staying at a cottage on Cape Cod so that Neel can recover from wounds he received from a terrible accident involving fireworks. It is the off-season in the cottage. The town is quiet, and Mina and Neel must turn to each other in that context. Neel needs Mina’s help. Mina, we soon discover, may not need Neel any longer.
