Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Caught Up

All it took was two dates.
     The first, a week after the reunion, was a lunch that turned into dinner, the whole time talking of old friends and teachers and the things they’d once done—old movies, old music, and cars. They talked of dreams they’d shared and promises made, and laughed at fights long forgotten. And, yes, maybe things were moving too fast, but even the familiar rebuff made him smile.
     “So, why did we ever break up?” he wondered.
     Until their second date, when he discovered they’d once again run out of things to say to each other.
A Dinner Table at Night by John Singer Sargent

14 comments:

  1. Oh right - that's why. You do well keeping your ending unexpected.

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  2. oh yes- haven't we all bored some people!

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  3. yep...if you cant keep it up for more than two dates...it will surely become a rather impotent relationship

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  4. Nice turn at the end...so that's why ~

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  5. Though perhaps on that third date they might have found a bond over the fact that both had run out of things to say. "Don't you find it annoying when conversations run dry?" "Oh, absolutely, let me tell you just how much it frustrates me!"

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  6. Yep, that is definitly a sign to walk away!

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  7. The lunch that turned into dinner sucked them dry...

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  8. I loved your unexpected ending and the conversation topics that led me to believe they were on a roll. Thank you for sharing this, Roy, from a fellow Torontonian. =D

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  9. It's so sad when relationships take that turn, but otherwise you end up with a life long relationship like these two! Although I'm sure in real life their marriage was probably good, we are seeing what Sargent felt!

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  10. If I didn't know better, I would guess you had a crystal ball .. a lot like a time in my life.

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  11. That is so often the way of things - a well written short story, thanks.

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