— No, no, we need to break up
— I’m not in love with him
— He’s not the one, or whatever
So break up
— But we’re going to Rome
in October?
— Yeah, October
That’s months away
— But I —
Break up in October, then
— Or after
After October?
— Yes, yeah
— My dad’s coming
from New York?
— Yeah, dad’s coming from New York to meet him
when?
— Like, November
Surely you should do it before?
— No, after
What? In December?
— Not December, it’s winter, Christmas
So…
— Next, like, spring
Next spring?
that’s a year from now
— Yeah, I guess like a year from now
Ha! Loved this the prevarications of the heart so sharply observed. By a strange coincidence this Lydia Davis story was quoted in an LRB review I read today / I hope it isn’t horrible rude to quote another writer her but I was so struck by the similarities that I thought you might be interested
Lydia Davis ‘The Outing’):
An outburst of anger near the road, a refusal to speak on the path, a silence in the pine woods, a silence across the old railroad bridge, an attempt to be friendly in the water, a refusal to end the argument on the flat stones, a cry of anger on the steep bank of dirt, a weeping among the bushes.