FML
My neighbor, Debbie, is a wreck. She's just barely on this side of crazy. Her phone was turned off this month, which put the (what's it called?) on Joey and me to provide our phones for her back-and-forths with Rick, the semi-resident handyman around these parts, and her on-again/off-again lay. About three weeks ago she appeared at our door near tears, because he had cheated on her and didn't seem to care at all about her knowing all about it. She decided she was going to move. Far away from here. So she could divorce him from her life and move on without the drama of codependency.
"What would you do?" she asked. "What would you do if someone cheated on you?"
"Me? Oh, I don't know, Debbie. I haven't been in a relationship in a long, long time." And I've mostly been the other man, at that.
"Would you move?"
"I might. I suppose I might remove myself from the situation as entirely as I could."
"I just don't know what to do."
She stood there at our back door, in sweats and a blue bathrobe, looking like a Pekingese Fu dog run over by a garbage truck. Dazed, completely dazed. So was I: I had no idea of the nature of their relationship; my interaction with her to that point limited to her asking me to bum her one of Joey's cigarettes; completely uncomfortable pretending I know anything worth advising this woman of 50 or 60 or whatever in.
A few days later, she gave me the news that Rick had decided to come back!
"Is that good news?" I asked, confused; thinking she was planning on moving away from the situation.
Debbie smiled and nodded excitedly. "Oh--yes!" she said. She looked something like Bette Davis c. 1962, giddy at any excuse to smile.
Today they're fighting again, and in the course of an hour, she used my phone five times. To thank Joey and me for our warmth of spirit, she made us an absolutely atrocious pot of potato soup. Currently, it sits untouched, smelling up the rest of the kitchen, and I do not know what to do with it.
I do not know what to do with a number of things right now.
I've been lying around all day, feeling overwhelmed and broke.
And how is that to feel? To have food that you do not want to eat.
I need to start making money, but I don't know how.
"What would you do?" she asked. "What would you do if someone cheated on you?"
"Me? Oh, I don't know, Debbie. I haven't been in a relationship in a long, long time." And I've mostly been the other man, at that.
"Would you move?"
"I might. I suppose I might remove myself from the situation as entirely as I could."
"I just don't know what to do."
She stood there at our back door, in sweats and a blue bathrobe, looking like a Pekingese Fu dog run over by a garbage truck. Dazed, completely dazed. So was I: I had no idea of the nature of their relationship; my interaction with her to that point limited to her asking me to bum her one of Joey's cigarettes; completely uncomfortable pretending I know anything worth advising this woman of 50 or 60 or whatever in.
A few days later, she gave me the news that Rick had decided to come back!
"Is that good news?" I asked, confused; thinking she was planning on moving away from the situation.
Debbie smiled and nodded excitedly. "Oh--yes!" she said. She looked something like Bette Davis c. 1962, giddy at any excuse to smile.
Today they're fighting again, and in the course of an hour, she used my phone five times. To thank Joey and me for our warmth of spirit, she made us an absolutely atrocious pot of potato soup. Currently, it sits untouched, smelling up the rest of the kitchen, and I do not know what to do with it.
I do not know what to do with a number of things right now.
I've been lying around all day, feeling overwhelmed and broke.
And how is that to feel? To have food that you do not want to eat.
I need to start making money, but I don't know how.