Luke
Herrington and Martha Walker met their Freshman year in High School and had
been friends ever since. She was his vice-president their Sophomore year and
they had worked together in the student body council before Martha resigned.
Outside of school they spent many parties tucked away in a corner discussing
political idealism while everyone else danced. He and she had several bars
around town they’d go to talk.
Luke
grew up in Deluth. His voice rolled with longs os and sharp, clear consonants;
when he was not busy with the pursuits of school he was in the woods with his
dog Molly. He loved hiking. He had the latest camping gear, the best hiking
boots and the coolest water bottle available. He knew every kind of species
there was of plants, animals, birds; he could predict the weather with great
accuracy. When he was not out in the woods he was a bit of a social butterfly;
he made friends with everyone, and was always the life of the party.
Martha
remained in a silent daze, but Luke smiled and acted as if nothing had ever
happened. He was a simple man who lived very much in the present, so he excelled
at tucking away bad memories and ignoring unpleasant event to come. His habit
of living in the moment made him a great procrastinator.
He
sat comfortably throughout the meal. He had seconds and thirds, especially of
Sandra’s homemade biscuits with ham, and he laughed loudly at anything funny
that was said. When Luke laughed his head cocked back and he opened his mouth
wide, revealing two rows of clean teeth, and he always laughed loudly, as if he
wished everyone in the room to hear him. Martha despised his laugh, even though
she loved him for everything else. She found his laugh despicable. He laughed a
lot that night and most people liked him for it, and he chose music to listen
to and engaged in the conversation of many. At the end of the night everyone
loved him a little more, although they may have been a little tired of him as
well.
During
the meal Martha sat next to Patricia Fox. Martha could not forget the woman in the spacesuit throughout the meal the way
Luke could, and she looked dismally into her mashed potatoes as if she could
divine some answer from them. She talked very little, even though she loved
Patricia Fox in every way. Patricia had strawberry-blond hair now and she told
Martha all about a new creative writing campaign that the Star Gazette was
coming out with. Martha nodded to everything that she said, but Martha’s mind
kept returning to the misgiving she had about the space-suit lady. What if she
was going to cause havoc in the neighborhood? What if she had not gone far?
Patricia Fox talked to her about office work and how she hoped to get an
advance; Martha heard and understood that much. Well, that would be good, she
thought; she would like Patricia as a manager, for she had a good head on her
shoulders. She felt miserable again and played with her spaghetti thoughtfully.
The meal was winding down; a
few had finished and pushed their plates a little away from themselves. Sandra
and Luke were talking a little quieter about a book they had both read and how
moving it was; everyone else grew quiet. A few poured fresh glasses of wine.
Kyle looked cheerful and even Martha began to pay attention to the serenity of
her surroundings. The spacesuit lady was gone, potentially from her life
forever.
Somebody thanked Martha for
the meal and she remembered they had agreed to watch one of Patricia’s
favorites; she retreated to the bedroom to find it while the others found
settled in the living room and found comfortable places on the cushions and couches.
Kyle made fun of the choice of movie, since it was a romance, but Martha soon
put it in everyone grew into a contented silence. Luke helped Martha carry the
dishes to the sink to wash.
The
movie was about a girl who lived in France during the war. She fell in love
with a German soldier while he was on leave and the movie expanded on the
difficulties with loving a Nazi. The girls loved it but Martha could tell that
towards the end the boys began to get a little bit restless. They began
whispering among each other and cracking jokes about the corny lines in the
movie, and of course this irritated the girls very much. Patricia Fox grew
stonily silent, for she related the heroine very much.
“This
film is not just critically acclaimed! It has won more awards than anything
you’ve ever done.” And she was probably right about that, but all the same they
laughed at her. Martha saw that Patricia turned very angry at this, and she
silently put the water on to boil for a cup of tea. She already felt that it
would be a long awkward evening; she could feel the tension in the air between
Luke and herself about what had already happened, and now she felt Patricia’s
anger like a hot wave. She always felt things too strongly. She silently made
her tea in the dark and made Patricia a cup of chamomile, to which her friend
smiled brightly and thankfully and Martha knew that he small act had done some
good.
She
leaned over the couch for a while, silently drinking her tea and watching the
movie. She could understand why Patricia was so passionate about the heroine.
This French girl seemed to be greater than everyone else in the movie, wiser
and yet she had what everyone considered a great folly—that she loved a Nazi.
She even despised herself of her flaw, and Martha couldn’t decide whether she
passionately loved this French girl with all her heart. She despised the
naivety and vanity, definitely, for these ideas are no longer respected in
people; but she loved the pain mingled with love. She understood that deeply.
Then
after the movie they grew serious. Luke, Patricia and Martha sat together on
the couch and talked about how broke they were and how bad student loans turned
out to be. Martha was surprised to find that Luke claimed to be desperately in
debt, for she had seen him so frivolous with his money in his past. Of course
Martha had no one to blame but herself for her lack of knowledge in her
friends’ lives; she hadn’t sat down with Patricia Fox and Kyle since she had
left college last year. It felt odd. She silently felt a wall of time separated
them from each other and she could not reach them through it.
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