The story, "No One's a Mystery" by Elizabeth Tallent explores the relationship of two characters, whom are both rather disputable. The young girl in the story remains unnamed and could be considered naive and dim-witted while the guy, Jack, is a chauvinist pig, who thinks he is God's gift to women. With that being said, the final scenarios at the end described by Jack and the girl are no surprise from the way in which they celebrate her eighteenth birthday, the way Jack treats this girl, and how this girl can possibly put up with a guy like him. Jack is one of those characters where you just want to take your hands, rip him out of the book, and strangle him. Any true man would not celebrate his significant other's birthday the way he did with the girl. For a present, he gives her a diary, probably old and used, with a latch that does not even work while they spend the day in his dingy truck, hiding from his wife and drinking tequila. As they sit there, they begin thinking about what the girl will write in the diary years from now. The girl fantasizes about having a family with Jack, despite the fact that Jack is saying in years they will be broken up and she will have forgotten about him. His scenario gives hints that he is already planning their break-up and does not really have any feelings for this girl. From the way he treats the girl now, it is no surprise he does not see a future with her.
             After all, it's bad enough that he is cheating on his wife, but it's even worse that he's cheating on her with an eighteen year-old girl, whom he still considers a "kid" and has no respect for at all. Had he any respect for her, he would have at least put some thought into her special day instead of spending it in his pickup wearing his manure-covered boots with a bottle of tequila against his crotch. Had he cared about her at all, he would have at least had the decency to divorce his wife fo...