The Great Divide

Man proposes. God disposes.

THE GREAT DIVIDE

 

 The party had been organized by Larry, one of those people who is never happy unless he is surrounded by anyone he happens to know. It wasn’t necessary to be an intimate friend of Larry’s to get an invite, it was enough to say hello to him and be nice. Larry was a simple soul, he just wanted to do right by everyone and be liked. That Saturday evening he had made an extraordinary effort to get a varied number of guests round to his house. The men outnumbered the women. He had taken great delight in working this out, to create some kind of interest between the sexes to see if any one of them got together to have a date. “There’s no harm in trying to help those who are alone from finding a soul-mate,” he said to anyone who was puzzled by his actions. Larry was bored, and he liked liveliness at home. Ever since his last divorce, he had gone out of his way to try and solve other people’s loneliness, which helped him feel less lonely.

Larry told all those who were invited, “There will be plenty of food and drink, so all you need do is turn up and enjoy. If the weather’s fine we might be able to dance in the conservatory and the garden. Does that sound OK to you?”

Of course, nobody could turn down such an invitation, free food and drink, and the possibility of dancing. Larry had a maxim, that men liked food, women, and dancing. Whenever he said this, people raised their eyebrows, which meant nothing to him, Larry was Larry, and he maintained his posture. The fact that he had been married three times never made him feel a failure, indeed he felt that at least he had managed to get three women to fall in love with him. Larry was, deep down, a matchmaker, but he never saw himself as that.   

There was the smell of autumn in the air the evening of Larry’s party, and yet there was no lack of eagerness on anyone’s part to join in and make the most of it. The summer had still a week or two before ending, and there was a special feeling that it might be the last time going outside into the garden would be possible. The weather could change at any moment, but that evening the memory of summer was still present.

Brad had arrived in his sports car at the time indicated by Larry on the e-mail he had sent out to all the guests. Larry opened the front door in person, after the deep ringing tone of the doorbell. “Hello, Brad. Glad you could make it. How are things?” Larry greeted his old friend.

“Things are all right actually, and how are you? Have you been away? You seem to have been out of sight for quite a while. So much so that I was beginning to think you had snuffed it.” Brad said to his astounded friend.

“After my last divorce, I found myself in a very bad place. I couldn’t take it in, a third divorce! What a mess of a man I am! Come in, and I’ll introduce you to the others who are already here.”

“Have I come late?” Brad asked, feeling rather perturbed.

“No, you haven’t. They have arrived early. It appears there are many people who have nothing to do, so when they receive an invitation they can’t get to the venue quick enough, in order to get out of the house and their boredom and loneliness.”

Larry pushed open a large door and Brad went in straight behind him.

“This is Brad, and he’s single, as far as I know.” Larry introduced all his guests in like manner.

“Brad, these two lovely ladies are Cheryl and Michelle, and those two over there are Dean and Tyrone, and there are still William, Primula, and Nicola to come. I just hope we’ll be enough to have a good time and a bit of a laugh.”

Brad walked over to Cheryl and Michelle, who were like two shop-window dummies. They were both well-dressed and made up. They were holding drinks that could have been anything from white wine to ginger ale by the colour. He smiled and introduced himself. “Hello, I’m Brad. Did you have a good summer?” He saw that close up, they weren’t as young as they had looked when he had entered the room.

The women stared at him as if he had committed a crime, but eventually the one called Cheryl answered, “Why did you ask about what the summer was like?” 

“You are both suntanned.”

Cheryl and Michelle exchanged glances, “We spent the summer in a tanning saloon. And you?” Michelle said.

“I went on a Mediterranean cruise. It was great, very relaxing.”

Cheryl and Michelle stared at Brad, who was oblivious of the fact.

Then the front doorbell rang, and Larry returned with, “Everybody’s here now. These are William, Primula, and Nicola. Let the party begin.”

That first evening for those who were present, was like forming part of a choreography. They moved around the party room and the conservatory as if they had been given the steps to make. Cheryl spoke to Primula about nothing of any consequence, and then moved on to Nicola, with whom she had a couple of drinks before moving onto Brad.

Michelle wondered what Cheryl had seen in Nicola by talking to her for so long, and so went up to her for a chat. When she had discovered what she wanted to know about Nicola, Michelle started up a conversation with Primula, just as she was showing interest in Tyrone.

The men made no such moves, preferring to dance or drink. Chatting was not their way of communicating at a party.

Before the end of the party, some of the guests had made sufficient manoeuvres to be able to get in touch with one other for a date, however simple.

 

William had made up his mind about Primula from the beginning, and dedicated his free time to chasing her. So, that put them into an area of society that meant they were an ‘item’.

Cheryl and Michelle hadn’t fancied William, so that was no great loss to either of them. After a few false moves, Michelle and Dean got off the ground very slowly, and told everyone that they were friends.

Cheryl and Brad had an off-and-on relationship. She blew hot and cold continuously, and that got on Brad’s nerves.

 

One day Cheryl and Brad met Dean and Michelle for lunch. It was on one of those days when Cheryl was fed up with Brad, and thought that she had not done so well in the romance stakes as everyone else. Dean was happy with Michelle, but at times he had his reservations. So the two, Cheryl and Dean, began flirting in front of Brad and Michelle.

Brad told Cheryl off when they got home. At that time they were half-living together. “Why did you have to make the lunch so miserable?”

“What are you talking about? I thought I was being very polite. Both you and Michelle are a pair of dummies, you hardly spoke, and she ate practically nothing.”

“What do you expect when you go out of the way to flirt so brazenly with the man she’s going to marry?” Brad said, staring Cheryl directly into her eyes.

Cheryl, who had got through life by being ‘the pretty girl’, was not to be deterred and shrugged her shoulders. By the end of that week Brad had left and gone to live alone, preferring to be alone than under permanent attack from Cheryl. Dean began to be accosted by Cheryl, and she found him to be the perfect man she was able to control.

 

And so the choreography continued, although the party was well and truly over. Dean and Michelle decided to go back together, and got married - much to Cheryl’s disgust. The wedding was attended by those who had been at the party - including Larry. The reception was over the top. William and Primula, who were to be married soon after, were glowing with future conjugal happiness. The only one who had declined the invitation was Brad, who didn’t like weddings, but sent the happy couple a small present from the wedding list.

The wedding planner had placed all the couple’s friends at the same table, following instructions from Michelle.

“We all attended the same party where Dean and I met last September at the end of summer, so they’ll be able to talk to each other,” Michelle explained.

William informed those sitting nearest to him and Primula, “We’ll be getting married at the end of September in Primula’s West Country village. We made the decision to get married there, because it’s so pretty, and her family is too big to come up here.”

“Thanks for letting us know. I suppose we’ll be receiving invitations, shan’t we?” Larry asked.

“That’s not up to us, but to Primula’s parents,” William said, relieved to pass the responsibility onto his future in-laws’ shoulders.

Tyrone and Nicola were very quiet. They had thought it a better idea not to say anything rather than get involved very much with the others.

 

Brad was at home in a new flat he had bought after his break-up with Cheryl. The flat was HIS. There was nothing in it that he hadn’t chosen. When he had been going out with Cheryl, she had declared quite categorically that she could never live in a flat or a house with dark colours. Brad liked the dark greys and whites he had decorated his home in. Those colours made him feel as if he were in control of his life - and nobody else. Brad was a neutral man, and his home reflected that. The only strong colour in the place was in the kitchen, which was decorated by his mother, who liked country colours: greens, browns, and russet reds, the colours of autumn. Brad was convinced that he never wanted to live with another woman. If there had to be a woman in his life, then she had to have her own house and he his, it was as simple as that. That was what he thought, but life springs surprises on us when we are least expecting them.

 

Michelle had seemed to be a very simple girl, without any of the demanding traits of her sex, wanting this and that. Dean was very much in love with her, and  they got married, and felt relieved that he and Cheryl had broken up. The honeymoon was spent sunbathing and swimming, apart from eating all the new and delicious local dishes in the Caribbean resort they had gone to. On returning home they began to make plans about spending money on a home and contents. Michelle, like all women, wanted a new place with new furniture. Dean said they would have to wait a couple of years to get all that. Michelle, newly married, gave in and they started saving money towards the house. “I think we’ll be saving for ever at this rate,” Michelle complained. “We don’t go out and we certainly won’t be able to go on a holiday this summer as we’ll be saving.”

Dean sighed and responded, “We knew that it would difficult at the beginning, but you’ll get the things you want once we’ve saved up.”

“Not even in dreams! We’ll be like this for the rest of our lives,” moaned Michelle, wondering why she had married tightwad Dean.

The relationship turned sour, and after two years the once happy couple got a divorce. Dean emigrated to Australia and, like Brad, had his own home, ate the food he liked, wore the clothes he preferred, and kept the timetable he wanted.

 

The party had brought Brad and Cheryl together, and also Dean and Michelle, and then they were divided. It showed how threadbare the relationships were. Those that appeared to be well, weren’t. And they split up.

 

William and Primula seemed to have got it right, but were not happy to hear about how the others had fared. “It’s probably because they don’t have children,” Primula said to William over breakfast.

Primula was a woman who wanted a large family. William never made a comment about it. In the time Dean and Michelle had married and divorced, William and Primula had reproduced twice, and the third was on its way. Primula was making sure that William wouldn’t stray, so she was busy giving him a numerous family. Poor William had known about Primula’s liking for children, he had already seen that it was more like an addiction. All William wanted was two children at most - and a good night’s sleep. The divide between William and Primula came because she wanted more and more children.

One day he said to Primula, “I need a good night’s sleep, that is without interruption from crying babies, so from tonight on, I’m sleeping in the guest room. I’ll return when you decide that we have enough children and when they stop crying during the night.”

Primula saw that if she didn’t change her attitude re having so many children, William might just walk out of her life and the children’s. But something stubborn inside Primula was not willing to give up her hopes of an even larger family. She said nothing for the moment, but bided her time.

William stayed in the guest room, till Primula had decided enough is enough. Primula went searching for ideas to get William back into the marital bed. The easiest thing to do, was to make him a seductive dinner. The evening chosen was a Friday, and Primula’s parents took the children to their house for a sleepover. Everything was prepared for a romantic dinner for two.

William, meanwhile, and his co-workers were in a pub celebrating a rise in their salaries. While the men were still capable of managing their cars, they left the pub and headed off home. William parked his car in the driveway and made his way indoors, he had a little difficulty trying to open the front door, it was as if the key didn’t fit. He entered his home feeling the worse for wear. Primula came out of the kitchen not realising his slightly drunken state. Primula’s mind was set on one single thing - seduction. The food Primula had prepared with such illusion William barely tasted. He spent the time drinking more and more wine. Primula removed the dishes and glasses and took them into the kitchen, placed them in the dishwasher, and made coffee, talking all the time. She carried the tray with coffee and cups on it into the dining-room and placed it on the coffee table. She heard a snore and saw that William had fallen into a drunken sleep.

She was so disappointed. She burst into tears. Primula went upstairs to spend another night alone in the marital bed. In the night, William woke up, and feeling groggy staggered upstairs and fell onto his bed. In the cold light of the next day Primula became aware that if she wanted to keep William with her she would have to stop having children. That in a marriage you both have to be in agreement, and so Primula made the first step in closing the great divide.

 

Tyrone and Nicola had gone abroad to be as far away as possible from everything and everybody they knew. It meant they would be alone, with only each other for company, and therefore they would have nobody to tell their problems to. The news they received about Michelle and Dean was not of any interest to them. William and Primula’s expanding family was of no interest either. For the moment, they were only interested in themselves, and that was enough. They were quite happy trying to adapt to a new life style and learn a new language, and had no time to think about houses and furniture. They went from one day to the next. They couldn’t cope with anything else. The weekends were spent visiting different places and eating the local food. The divide that Tyrone and Nicola went through was that of separation from all that had been theirs before. In time the divide from their origins became as great as an ocean.

 

Four years after his party that had had such dramatic results, Larry sent out emails to inform all those who had been present, that he and Michelle had got married. She was his fourth wife and he her second husband. They had met when he was not very keen on getting married or forming any kind of relationship with a woman. He had been burnt three times, and as far as he was concerned that was more than enough for any man. Larry’s motive for the party had been rather innocent and he had never envisaged the results, that some of his guests had passed through such emotional traumas. Larry had new friends, and had nothing much to do with his guests of that night. He had changed a great deal since that night and in the following months. He knew it would be quite a while before he had any kind of celebration again in his home.

 

Cheryl meanwhile had abandoned her usual haunts and had moved as far away as her income would allow her. She was a stranger in a strange place, and the divide that had existed previously in her life had been made bigger by her moving abroad. The grand hotel she was staying at before deciding whether she wanted to stay or not, was situated above a white sandy beach. Cruise ships docked there in the tiny port several times a month. That gave hotel guests and locals alike something to talk about and observe. Cheryl felt very at home, as she sat on the hotel terrace drinking coffee and watching the beach.

 

She opened her laptop and perused the photos taken at Larry’s party taken so long ago. She wondered why she had kept them, and then deleted every single one. She had no intention of looking back. Cheryl had always lived the great divide, and as she got older the divide would be even greater.