After hearing this strange tale from my friend, both my husband and I looked at people in an entirely new light. Much like him, I found myself growing distant from friends, choosing to share less and less of our day-to-day lives. We did not lose trust in them, and we still consider ourselves on good terms. We simply make sure no one steps too far into our private world, for it takes only one unpleasant incident to change everythinglike what happened to my friend Emily and her husband, Richard.
Emily and Richard had been close with another couple for many years. Richard and the other husband, Arthur, had worked together in the City, while Emily and the wife, Stephanie, attended university together. Stephanie married Arthur, and a year later they welcomed a child. Stephanie even introduced Emily to one of Arthur’s colleagues, which led to Emilys own romance with Richard.
But things shifted. Arthur left his job for a higher paid position elsewhere, and Stephanie too secured herself a smartly paid role in a new firm. The couples began to drift, meeting less often. Emily, meanwhile, kept finding herself off work on sick leavepartly because more children came along in quick succession. Her bosses lost patience and seized on an excuse to let her go.
Richard worked tirelessly so that their four children and Emily lacked for nothing. Despite lifes hurdles, they managed fairly well; they bought a large house, kept up with the garden, and sorted out the bills. Their situation eventually evened out, though they never became truly well-off.
The other couple remained childless, climbing the career ladder, jetting off on holidays, living by their own design.
One summers day, Emily decided to invite their friends out to their cottage in the Cotswolds, thinking the countryside air would do them good after so much time in London. She imagined barbecues, rowing boats on the river, foraging in the woods nearby. The weather was glorious. She rang Stephanie, offering the invitation. Stephanie sounded delighted but promised to check with Arthur first, then ring back with their answer.
But after the call, Stephanie set the phone down on the kitchen tableforgetting to hang up. And so Emily, as if eavesdropping through the fog of a dream, overheard all manner of things about her and her family that left her feverish with shock.
It turned out her friends saw Emily and Richard as bumbling fools, unworldly and naïve. With four children, surely they were scraping by, surviving paycheque to paycheque. Their house, apparently, was a shamblesa disgrace for guests. The children were wild, and honestly, why bother having so many? Send half to a childrens home, they joked. Emily was drab and witless, always droning on about nappies and uniforms.
Richard, in their words, was a boorish lout, impossible to converse with. Just as Emilys mind spun from this dreamlike betrayal, the call finally cut out. Emily and Richard simply sat there, stunned, tempted to confront their supposed friends. But at that very moment, the phone rang again. It was Arthur, cheerfully confirming that they would come for the weekend. Richard merely replied, Thats wonderfulwell see you then, and hung up.
The couple talked it through. In the end, they decided to wait for Stephanie and Arthurs arrival. Their friends turned up, bringing cheap jars of chutney and the sort of sweets youd grab from the reduced shelf at the village shop. Arthur made an odd face and, grinning, asked, How tiny are your wages that you cant afford anything decent? Never mind, well feed you upa proper spread tonight. Once youve eaten, you can give us a hand; theres lots that needs doing.
Emily and Richard sat, blank-faced, bewildered, as Stephanie piped up: And why havent you two had children yet?
Stephanie replied, only slightly forced, We’re not readytheres plenty of time.
I suppose thats right. Only savages have children, clever folk know to enjoy themselves instead! Emily remarked, the words ringing sourly in the summer air.
Stephanie and Arthur fell silent, as if theyd stepped through a strange doorway and found their secrets laid bare, but without clue as to how. They muttered some excuse about needing to be elsewhere and fled, the whole scenario dissolving into the haze of an unsettling dream.
So what do you think? Did Emily and Richard do the right thing? Should they have welcomed their guests more warmly, or been sharper? And, in that odd twilight of friendship, what would you have done?
