and all the King’s Men

 

--Did you see Hugh when you were there?

--At the plenary session.

--How was he?  The last time I saw him he was still recovering.

--You’d never know anything happened to see him now.

--He looks good?

--Working out five days a week.  Dropped 15 pounds and his cholesterol is down to 155.

--Great.  Did he inspire you?

--He spends an hour a day at it.

--You should be thinking about our Meggie and Brian. 

--Don’t worry, I’m fit.

-- You see him any other time?

--Who?

--Hugh. 

--We all had dinner together one night, a bunch of us.

--Who else was there?

--Other professors and their wives, most of them I didn’t know.

--So you missed me?

--I always miss you when I go to these things.  I thought of you when I saw this; a souvenir from Delft.  

--A vase. 

--You remember that book we read, The Girl with a Pearl Earring?  The author was there and gave us a tour of the city. 

--Did Hugh go? 

--Of course, everyone went.  What’s this obsession with Hugh anyway? 

--His wife too?  Corinne, isn’t it?

--No, she wasn’t there this year.

--But she’s usually at these conferences with him, isn’t she?  You told me she was with him in Seville.  That was the year I was supposed to go, but Meggie got sick.

--And?

--How are they getting on? 

--Frankly, it’s not the sort of thing we talk about at history symposia.

--Wasn’t there talk about some affair Corinne had with one of Hugh’s colleagues in Seville?

--How did you hear about that?

--It gets around.

--What else did you hear?

--Why did you blush when I mentioned her name? 

--Vivian, you have a perverse interest in other peoples’ lives. 

--I find them more engaging than King Phillip’s War.

--Don’t you like the vase I brought you?

--Wasn’t Seville the year you came back a day late and brought me that La Cartuja vase? 

--Well?

--The only time you show an interest in porcelain is when you go to conferences.  I was wondering who suggested you buy the Delft this year.

--What do you want me to say?

--Isn’t Delft expensive?  Can we really afford these placating gestures of yours after every conference?

--Gestures? 

--I think you know.  It seems you thought I didn’t. 

--Know?  Know what?

--Once might be forgiven.  Never twice.

--You never said.

--There!        See if you can put it back together.