Tales of the City 05 - Significant Others

explained.
    “Poor boy,” purred Teddy. He was playing it for all it was worth.
    “You see?” said Charlie, looking Michael in the eye. “You see?”
    “What did he say?” Michael asked Teddy.
    “I told you. That he fancied you. And it wasn’t mutual.”
    Michael felt a sudden urge to whoop, right there in the middle of the wake. “Wasn’t mutual?”
    “Well, those are my words, of course….”
    “He was the one who was standoffish,” said Michael. “He left early, he … Is this the truth, Teddy?”
    Teddy leaned over the table, examining the tarts at closer range. “Oh, yes,” he said vaguely.
    “Try the pecan pie,” said Charlie, exuding graciousness. “It’s extraordinary.” Then he turned and scolded Michael. “Didn’t I tell you?”
    After the wake, Michael was too distracted to work, so he asked Charlie to drive him home. When they reached the Barbary steps, Charlie said: “Don’t look now, but your landlady has finally flipped her beanie.”
    Michael turned, to find Mrs. Madrigal chained to the landing of the steps. Her bonds were of the modest hardware-store variety, faintly ridiculous in this context. She was wearing her semiformal getup, a loose skirt and a tweed jacket over a high-necked white blouse. She was obviously giving it all she had. “It’s a protest,” Michael told him.
    “Oh, right.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “You Russian Hill people are so weird.”
    Michael smiled and pecked him on the cheek. “I’ll call you tonight.”
    “Not until you’ve called Thack.”
    “All right.”
    “I mean it, Michael. Don’t fuck this up.”
    Michael laughed and bounded across the street. Charlie beeped twice and drove away down Leavenworth. Mrs. Madrigal offered him a cheery wave from the steps, then called down to Michael: “I hope I didn’t scare him away.”
    “No,” said Michael. “Not at all.” He climbed the steps to the landing, where the landlady sat in dignified splendor, fussing idly with the neck of her blouse, the drape of her chain.
    “I’m waiting for Mary Ann,” she said, “in case you’re wondering.”
    “She’s gonna tape this?” He hardly knew what to say.
    She nodded demurely. “I’m afraid she’s a bit late.”
    “What time was she supposed to be here?”
    “I’m sure she’ll get here soon,” said the landlady. The look in her eyes told him not to be so indignant on her behalf. She knew what she was doing, it said.
    He asked: “Are there … uh … demolition people coming?”
    “We don’t know,” she said grimly.
    “Doesn’t Mary Ann know?”
    “No,” said the landlady. “She says she doesn’t. She needs this for human interest.” She threw up her hands and gave him a crooked little smile. “If this is what it takes, then this is what it takes.”
    He wondered for a moment if Mary Ann’s absence was a function of Brian’s homecoming. If he had told her, and she had freaked out …
    “When did you last talk to her?” he asked.
    “Oh … late yesterday afternoon. She told me I should be … uh … chained up from noon on. She couldn’t be here when I did it, or it would look like we’re in cahoots.”
    “You haven’t talked to her this morning?”
    “No.” Her brow furrowed. “Is something the matter?”
    “No,” he replied calmly. “I just wondered. Look, I’ll call the station for you.”
    “That would be very kind.” She saw his expression. “Don’t be cross with her, dear.”
    He continued up the steps, then stopped. “Oh,” he said, “what did you think of Thack?”
    “He seems very sweet,” she said. “Just right for you.”
    “He does, doesn’t he?”
    “Has he gone yet?” she asked.
    “Last night.”
    “Oh, dear.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I mean, not yet. Right now I’m just enjoying the feeling. You know what I mean?”
    “I know what you mean,” she said.
    He smiled at her.
    “Bring me a caramel, dear, when you come back. They’re in that crystal dish on my piano.”
    He climbed the remaining steps in seven-league boots, basking in the glow of her benediction.
    When he phoned the station, a peevish associate producer told him Mary Ann had left immediately after the morning taping, and he personally knew nothing about a crew being sent to the Barbary steps.
    He tried The Summit. Brian answered with a lackluster hello.
    “It’s Michael,” he said. “Is Mary Ann there, by any chance?”
    “Well … yeah. She’s not really taking any calls right