Chapter 8
I was sitting on the porch with a lemonade and a book when the phone rang. I reluctantly got up to my feet to answer it and when I picked up the receiver I heard Christine’s voice on the other end. She was one of the few friends I had made in New York, where she still lived when she was not roaming somewhere around the world. I had met Christine in high school. She had then become a journalist working her way up from small magazines all the way to the Times. She aimed high and she got it, being good at what she did, but her 13 hours working days and he continuous travels had made her personal life a mess. In spite of the distance I think I was one of the major certainties in Christine’s life, the same way she was in mine, which was, in a different way, just as messy as Christine’s. It was good to hear her voice. She asked me how I was and asked me to go see her. Then she spoke about her next trip. But all along I felt that she had something in store and from her tone I anticipated what she was up.
When I told her she laughed. “I am so much in love. But this time I really want to be careful, I want to understand if we are really meant for each other. Experiences teach, right?”.
I had heard this before and couldn’t help smiling, “I wouldn’t love you so much if you weren’t crazy”, I told her.
We spoke for a long while about this new man, who was supposedly wonderful and different from all the others.
The phone call changed my mood, and by the time I hang up I was itching for some movement. I would have wanted to go for a swim or a walk, but for some reason my body felt weak. I realized I was very hungry although it was only 5 pm and my lunch had been quite abundant. I made myself a sandwich and nibbled it while playing with Wooster, who had come to greet me carrying a ball in his mouth after coming back from a walk with the Wheeler’s kids.
My thoughts were as remote as they could be from FoodTech labs when the phone rang again. This time it was Brad. Could we go to work earlier than usual the next day, he asked, and I said yes.
“I want to pin this polymer business down”, he told me.
The week-end had brushed away the frustration, and the idea of trying something new, first thing in morning, energized me. My hopes were high again, and I fell into sleep planning the next day and rolling ideas in my mind.