{"id":4326,"date":"2021-02-20T09:29:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T16:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2021-02-21T21:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T04:57:57","slug":"friendship-dialogues-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/archives\/4326","title":{"rendered":"Friendship Dialogues #3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the sequel to Friendship Dialogues #2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mark is about to jump on his bike\nand ride the mile through a neighborhood connecting Berkeley and Oakland to\nMarlene\u2019s house to help Marlene walk her neighbor\u2019s two large dogs when the\nphone rings. He almost doesn\u2019t pick up, but he does, and the caller is Bernice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should explain that the pandemic\nis still raging, Mark is sixty-four, Marlene is sixty and French, and Bernice\nis fifty-seven. Bernice and Mark had five dates before they gave up on trying\nto forge a relationship and decided to be friends. And in the course of\npursuing a friendship with Bernice, Mark became friends with Marlene who is\nBernice\u2019s closest friend. And yesterday, Mark walked the aforementioned two\nlarge dogs with Marlene for the first time, which was also the first time he\u2019d\ndone something with Marlene without Bernice being there, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Hi Mark. It\u2019s Bernice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Hey, I\u2019m just going out the\ndoor to go walk the giant dogs again with Marlene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: I know. That\u2019s what I\u2019m\ncalling about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: You gonna join us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Well\u2026 I wasn\u2019t going to,\nbut\u2026 would you like me to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Well, I can\u2019t, but I\u2019m glad\nyou asked me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Is something wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: No, I just\u2026 so did you have\nfun yesterday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Big fun. The dogs are great\nand Marlene made us delicious sandwiches and very strong black tea. She\u2019s a\nkick. It\u2019s easy to see why she\u2019s your best friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Oh good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: You want to talk later today\nwhen I get back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Yeah, that would be great.\nCall me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Okay. Bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eschewing his bike for his car\nbecause he\u2019s running late now, Mark surmises Bernice is upset and possibly\njealous about him meeting with Marlene yesterday. He makes this surmise because\nBernice has already expressed her fear that he is attracted to Marlene and\nMarlene is attracted to him; and so he is very glad not <\/em>to be entangled in a relationship with Bernice because he\u2019s\nbeen in relationships with jealous partners before, they were routinely unfaithful\nto him, and the last thing he wants is a repeat of that kind of experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene is waiting for Mark in front\nof her house, and as he pulls into her driveway he marvels at his good fortune\nto be spending time with such a charming woman. He puts on his mask before getting\nout of his car, and Marlene puts on her mask, too, though not before she greets\nhim with an exuberant, \u201cBon Jour Mark. I\u2019m so happy to see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After their three-mile jaunt with Juno\nand Chico, Marlene and Mark return the big dogs to Marlene\u2019s grateful neighbor\nJacqueline who is awaiting hip-replacement surgery, and Mark sits at the big\nround glass-topped table on Marlene\u2019s backyard patio. He and Marlene converse\nthrough the open kitchen door as she prepares their tea and lunch, Mark\u2019s\nreward for helping Marlene walk Jacqueline\u2019s dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After they discuss the highlights of\ntheir walk with Juno and Chico, Marlene brings out mugs of black tea, sits on\nthe other side of the table from Mark, and they remove their masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I made a chicken casserole\ntoday. It will be ready in just a few minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I\u2019m in no hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I\u2019m not either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I have momentous news, Marlene.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: About Bernice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: No. I have no news about\nBernice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: She didn\u2019t call you last\nnight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: No, she called this morning as\nI was going out the door to come here and I said I\u2019d call her when I got home.\nIs she okay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I think so. I shouldn\u2019t\nspeak for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: About?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Oh it\u2019s complicated. Tell\nme your news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: My news is\u2026 I am no longer an\neditor of other people\u2019s prose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: (startled) You quit your\njob?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I did. Emboldened by your\nencouraging words, I called the publisher, who is my very good friend, and told\nhim the time had come. He was disappointed but understanding, and he\u2019s giving\nme a generous severance package in thanks for my thirty years of service to the\ncompany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Oh Mark I\u2019m so glad for\nyou. Ah, there\u2019s my alarm for the casserole. Congratulations. I will serve lunch\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene\ngoes into the house and returns with two plates of food. When she is seated\nagain, Mark raises his mug to her.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Here\u2019s to you for urging me to\ndo what I\u2019ve wanted to do for a very long time. And to our new friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene\nraises her glass and they drink. Now they each take a bite of the casserole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I used coconut oil instead\nof butter for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Thank you. I\u2019m so grateful to you for\u2026 wanting me to be happy. An enormous weight has been lifted from my weary shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: (hesitates) Mark, I need to\ntell you something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: About Bernice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Yes. She came over\nyesterday afternoon and asked about our visit. I told her it was fun for both\nof us and you were coming again today, and she wanted to know every detail. I\nmentioned you cried because you were happy to be coming here every day to walk\nthe dogs and visit with me, and she said she was a fool not to start a\nrelationship with you and was going to call you and tell you so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: What did you say to that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I said I thought she wanted\nto be friends with you first, and she got very angry with me and said she knew\nI was interested in you, and I said, \u201cI would rather have nothing to do with him\nthan endanger my friendship with you,\u201d and she said, \u201cThen call him and tell\nhim not to come tomorrow.\u201d And I said, \u201cYou\u2019re acting crazy, Bernice. What\u2019s\nwrong? Tell me.\u201d And she burst into tears and apologized and said she was upset\nbecause she knew you needed to be in a relationship now<\/em>, not someday, and she wanted to try with you. So I said, \u201cTell\nhim.\u201d And she said she was going to call you right away, but she didn\u2019t until\nthis morning, and you still came over so I thought you and she had come to a\nnew understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I\u2019ve<\/em> certainly come to a new understanding. I don\u2019t see any\nsolution to this except for me to withdraw entirely from our nascent quartet of\nfriends, though I love knowing you and Angela. I have no interest in disrupting\nyour troika and even less interest in being in a relationship with Bernice.\nShe\u2019s betrayed my trust too many times now. I\u2019ve been involved with such people\nbefore, but never again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I\u2019m so sorry, Mark. I like\nyou so much. I just\u2026 Bernice has been my best friend for twenty-five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I understand. (gets up) Your\ncasserole is delicious but I cannot stay. I think you\u2019re marvelous, and I\u2019m sad\nand angry we won\u2019t get to be friends, you and I, but that\u2019s how life goes\nsometimes. Bon chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Bon chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark drives home in a daze of anger\nand sorrow, and without waiting to calm down he calls Bernice and recounts what\nMarlene told him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernice: Everything she said is\ntrue. I\u2019m ready to be in a relationship with you, Mark. Shall I come over now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: No. I never want to to see you\nagain. You pulled the football away one too many times, if you get my Lucy and\nCharlie Brown reference. I don\u2019t trust you. You\u2019re not a good friend. And I\ndon\u2019t want to intrude on your bubble with Marlene and Angela. We gave it a try,\nit didn\u2019t work. Have a good life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six weeks later, on a balmy morning\nin early May, Mark is in his front yard fertilizing his rose bushes when\nMarlene comes walking by with Juno on a leash. Marlene is masked, her hair in a\nponytail, and she\u2019s wearing shorts and T-shirt and running shoes. Juno is eager\nto say hello and drags Marlene closer to Mark so he can pet the friendly dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Bon jour, Marlene. What brings\nyou to this neck of the woods?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I was just passing by and\nhere you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: A new route through the\nmetropolis for you and Juno? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: No. (struggles) I wanted to\nsee you, but I was afraid to call, so\u2026 maybe I would have just gone by, but\nhere you are so\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Here I am. What did you want\nto see me about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Well\u2026 um\u2026 there have been\nsome big changes in my life and I thought I would see if you wanted to resume\nour friendship\u2026 not involving Bernice, of course, because\u2026 (starts to cry) my\nfriendship with her has changed and we are no longer in a bubble together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I\u2019m sorry to hear that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: No, I think it\u2019s better\nthis way. It\u2019s a long story. I won\u2019t bore you if you would rather not engage\nwith me again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I\u2019m dying to hear what\nhappened. Want some tea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: (crying) Yes, please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sit on Mark\u2019s backyard terrace,\nJuno sitting obediently beside Marlene. Mark serves tea and oatmeal raisin\ncookies, and when he is seated the requisite eight feet from Marlene, they\nremove their masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: It always feels so good to take\noff my mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Good for me, too. I\u2019m always\npleased to see you nose and mouth and cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: So\u2026 how does it feel not to\nbe editing murder mysteries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: By turns strange and marvelous\nand frightening and exhilarating. Mostly exhilarating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: What have you been doing\nwith your days?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: After being in shock for a\ncouple weeks following the denouement of my connection to your troika, I\u2019ve\nbeen on a sorting and cleaning binge, throwing out lots of old stuff, selling\nthings, getting ready for whatever comes next. Maybe sell the place. I don\u2019t\nknow. I\u2019m in a pleasant kind of free fall. But enough about me. What happened\nwith Bernice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Well I was in shock, too,\nafter the denouement of our friendship, and Angela and Bernice and I had many\nlong talks about what happened, and I went to see my therapist several times.\nAnd I realized that in a subtle but pervasive way, Bernice has always\ncontrolled our troika to suit her purposes. Not consciously, but because of the\nparticular interlocking neuroses of our trio. She\u2019s had many short-lived\nrelationships in the last twenty years, while Angela has only had three, and I none.\nBernice lived how she wanted to live, and we conformed to her patterns. And\nwhenever either us deviated from what Bernice wanted, she became upset or depressed\nor terribly needy or she acted out as she did when she feared you and I were\nbecoming friends and might\u2026 I don\u2019t know\u2026 like each other too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: She\u2019d done this before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Not this exactly because I\nhaven\u2019t been close friends with a man who isn\u2019t gay in twenty years. But\nsimilar. And Angela realized that the three men she was in relationships with\nall ended those relationships to pursue Bernice, though she says she didn\u2019t\nencourage them. But she must have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: She\u2019s reflexively seductive.\nAs were my two wives. It\u2019s not malicious. They simply know no other way to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: It is, as you say, her\nhabit. And it was also her way of keeping us wedded to her, seducing us again\nand again with her charm and her need to be comforted and adored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Quite a revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Yes, and Bernice sees it\nall quite clearly now and says she wants to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: You and Angela were her\nenablers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Yes. And I might never have\nseen this if I hadn\u2019t allowed myself to\u2026 to spend time with you and then\nBernice reacted so violently to our liking each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: What is your new arrangement\nwith her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: We are still friends, but\nwe won\u2019t see each other much for the next six months at least, and longer if it\nseems a good thing to continue not being so intimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: And you and Angela are still\nin a bubble together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Yes, and we are encouraging\neach other to look outside our bubble for new friends now that we know Bernice\ncannot interfere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: And you\u2019d like to resume your\nfriendship with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: You do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: (crying) Oh thank you,\nMark. This makes me very happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: (crying) Me, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: I should go. Get Juno home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Shall we go on a walk\ntomorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: Yes. If you come to my\nhouse at eleven, we can have lunch after we walk Juno. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: Sounds divine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: What would you like for\nlunch? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark: I never did get more than a\nbite of your fabulous chicken casserole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marlene: (smiles) Tomorrow I promise\nyou more than a bite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wedding Song<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the sequel to Friendship Dialogues #2. Mark is about to jump on his bike and ride the mile through a neighborhood connecting Berkeley and Oakland to Marlene\u2019s house to help Marlene walk her neighbor\u2019s two large dogs when the phone rings. He almost doesn\u2019t pick up, but he does, and the caller is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6496,6493,6495,6486,6497,6494,9,33,5709],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4326"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4332,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions\/4332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}