A Farewell to Yarns

depended on the outcome of each game. He was a Type-A personality run amok. People had told her he was quite nice if one didn’t presume to engage him in competition of any sort, but she’d never believed it.
    Jane had looked forward to the first game, buying a cute, sporty outfit and new sneakers. Her game plan had been to stand around looking smashing while other people yelled cheerful things like, “Heads up,“ and “I’ve got it.“ But John Wagner had disabused her of this concept within the first five minutes. His remarks to her had included, “If I’d known you couldn’t hit an elephant in a closet, I’d have gotten that ball,“ and “You’ve never heard of spiking, then?“ and “If you’d quit carrying on like that it would stop hurting.”
    She never went back, and Steve lasted only three more weeks before coming home in a rage, muttering about neighborhood bullies.
    John Wagner and Bobby Bryant trussed up together by family ties was impossible to imagine. “Yes, it was volleyball,“ she said to Phyllis and, refraining from rubbing her hands together in glee, asked, “How does John like Bobby?”
    Phyllis looked troubled. “It’s odd, Jane. They don’t get along at all. John was quite rude to Bobby both times they met. I suppose it’s jealousy. All men are just grown-ups boys, aren’t they?“
    “Jealousy? Of what?“
    “Chet’s affection, of course.”
    Or Chet’s money, Jane thought. As Phyllis’s son, Bobby might have a financial claim on her and, therefore, on Chet. John Wagner wasn’t a model person, but it wasn’t unreasonable that he might fear and dislike Bobby even more than most people would.
    Aside from Phyllis, did the boy have a friend in the world?
    Sooner or later, she was going to have to hear about Phyllis’s marital problems, so she decided to get it over with. Jane asked, “Why didn’t Chet come with you to Chicago?”
    Phyllis paused a long time before she answered. “I—I really don’t know. I thought it would be wonderful to have a good old-fashioned Christmas here—a nice dinner with John and Joannie and all Bobby’s adopted family. But Chet never liked the idea. I kept bringing it up, and I guess it irritated him, because he finally said—”
    She stopped, as if choking on the next words.
    With a sort of funny hiccup, she suddenly got up and ran to the guest bathroom. Before Jane could figure out what to do, Phyllis came back, dabbing at her eyes with a folded piece of toilet paper. “I’m so sorry to act silly, Jane. I want to tell you the truth and get it over with, but it’s so hard for me to say. You see, Chet finally said I should just take Bobby and go to Chicago—forever, if I wanted.”
    She started sniffling into the toilet paper. “I didn’t want that. Not in a million years, but he kept insisting, and then one day I had a terrible headache—not that that’s a good reason—and I snapped back and said I’d be glad to go away from him. I didn’t mean it, Jane. You know I didn’t mean it. But the next morning, Chet was gone. He’d flown off on a business trip without even letting me say I was sorry. On the bedside table were two one-way plane tickets and a checkbook. Jane, I should have just torn them up, but I got mad instead. And after that—I don’t know. It just got worse. Bobby even tried to find Chet to talk to him and explain that we didn’t want to leave—“
    “I’ll bet he did,“ Jane said, thinking what a shock it must have been for greedy Bobby to find he was about to be out of a life he’d just discovered suited him so well. “I mean—”
    But Phyllis had accepted the remark at face value and plowed on, still sniffling. “I’ve seen things on television about men having middle-age problems. Male menopause, I think they call it, although I think that’s a peculiar term. Still, I think that’s what Chet must be going through. I know he didn’t really want me to leave, but I did go so that he’d have the time and freedom to rethink our marriage. He’s just being irrational. I’m praying he’ll come to his senses. We’ve had the most perfect marriage in the world, and nothing’s changed, but Chet has turned into a different person for no reason.“
    “Phyllis, there has been a change. Bobby.“
    “But that’s a change for the good!“ Phyllis insisted. “Chet is crazy about Bobby. He offered to send him to college or on a nice long trip to Switzerland for the skiing—”
    —Anything to get