Don and Joe

 

 

 

     

 

To make sure Don is with us for Mrs. Malchovich's special turkey dinner on 26th, I knocked at Don's place this afternoon.

He was getting himself ready to go out with Sylvia.

 

 

"Who is coming?"

Putting on his favorite orange shirt in front of the mirror, Don casually asked me.

"Us." I said.

"Who is Us?" asked Don, sounded cautious this time.

"The Malchoviches, Sylvia, my girlfriend, me and ..."

"....and...?"

Don turned around and looked at me. 

"Joe the lawyer."  

 

 

The moment I said the name of Joe the lawyer, Don violently took off his shirt he had just put on and threw it on the floor.

"He moved out of this neighborhood because he didn't like here. Why does he keep coming back?Now I see him more often than when he was living here."

I ran to the shirt, picked it up and handed it back to Don.

"How come you don't like Joe the lawyer?" I asked.

Don grabbed the shirt, put it back on and said,"I never said I didn't like him. I just think we don't have a good chemistry."

Don sat on the sofa and sighed. I sat next to Don and sighed, too. I always sensed Don trying to avoid Joe the lawyer somehow, but I never knew exactly why.Then Don slowly started sharing his story.

"It seems every little conversation I have with him falls on the wrong side. Like one Sunday afternoon I was out at the steps in our apartment....."

 

Joe :"(Sigh) So many incredibly competent lawyers in my new neighborhood. Hard to get my business going there. I know this will help my career taking a next step and I am learning a lot by socializing with them. Motivating? Yes, but so stressful. Just thinking whether I am mingling OK gives me more stress. How about you? How're things going with you? How is your job?"

Don :"Oh, working hard on my script. Getting it more organized."

Joe:" No, I mean your job."

Don:"....?....."

Joe:" You know? Your work. Income source. At the store. Must be tough to work at the convenient store, too."

Don:" .............."

Joe: "Since the economy is not on our side, everybody has a tough time now. Everybody's life is unstable. Not only yours."

Don:" Thanks.......for reminding me."

Joe:"(puts his hand on Don's shoulder and smiles) You are welcome.We should share and encourage each other more often like this. I kind of feel better now."

Don:"......"
 

Saturday afternoon in the balcony at the Malchoviches, talking about age.

 

Joe:"45? I thought you are in the thirties like I am. You look great. Impressed."

Don: "Thanks."

Joe:"Do you work out? Or watch out for what you eat? I am 36, but I have to start taking better care of myself."

Don:"No, I don't do anything special. Just trying to be content every day."

Joe:" I see....(thinking in silence for a while).....What are you going to do?"

Don:"...?... "

Joe:" I mean your future.Seriously.... (concerned) What are you going to do?"

Don:"............"

Joe:"Nothing prospective?.(sigh)Yeah, it's tough everywhere......If there are anything I can do, let me know. Friends in need, friends in deed."

Don:".........Thanks.......again....for reminding me....."

 

Friday afternoon at Everybody's coffee

 

Joe: "I heard you are going out with Sylvia."

Don :"(afraid of another possibility getting annoyed by Joe) Yeah,we are hanging around."

Joe:" Just hanging around?! You are not serious?"

Don:"Hanging around means we are spending time together and getting to know each other."

Joe:" Just getting to know?! You are not serious about Sylvia?"

Don:" Yes, I am very serious and thinking about marrying her. (says what Joe wants to hear, hoping Joe will disappear)."

Joe:"You should. Sylvia is a good woman. You are a lucky guy. Look at me. I have a promising job ready for the next step, but I have no one on my side. It's hard to meet a good life-time partner nowadays. But I don't want to settle for less. Right now I am focusing on my career. I believe if my career moves ahead, things will come after.So you are pretty much lucky. The luckiest guy I've ever known. The luckiest one in the world."

Don :"( begins to get annoyed)......."

Joe:" Think about it. Luck doesn't fall on everybody.A lucky guy imaginable."

Don:"( completely annoyed) Thanks."     

 

  

On the street in front of the apartment

 

Joe:"Hey Don, How are you doing? (walking toward Don           cheerfully)"

Don :"(raises his hand, but walks away)"

Joe:"Where are you going? (still very friendly with no clue)"

Don :"( disappears into the apartment complex)."

"Talking with him always leaves me a bad feeling.

What we want from life is different.We are different. He has no reason to compete with me. He should be just happy with who he is."

Don shook his head.

"He doesn't mean to make you feel bad. He is a sincere caring person in heart, but now and then his sincerity happens to work the other way around.Remenber Halloween night?"

I shook my head and sighed, too.

"I feel hostility coming from him." said Don.

I was surprised to hear Don say that.

"No. He is never a hostile person."

"It's coming through under the surface in a subtle way."

" No. You think too much."

"Yes. He doesn't like me."

"Or maybe YOU don't like him, either." 

We looked at each other in silence.

"You guys are jealous of each other and competing each other with no reason."

Before I caught myself, I had already slipped my tongue.

Don stood up from the sofa as if he had heard something he didn't want to, and then said to me, "I just wanted to be happy every day. But Joe ruins it."

He walked to the bathroom to comb his hair.

"Please come to Mrs. Malchovich's Thanksgiving. I need you there. Without you, it's boring. Sylvia will be upset, too. "

I yelled at his back desperately. 

"Go get Sylvia for me. Watching a movie with Sylvia will lift my spirits."

Don said without turning to me.
"Are you coming to our Thanksgiving dinner? Are you?"  

This time I shouted at the top of my lung. After a short silence, I heard Don shout back from the bathroom.

"Yes! You know I never miss Mrs.Malchovich's turkey." 

 

 

When I knocked at the Malchoviches, they were all back from the grocery shopping.I saw on the counter a big Turkey and other groceries for Thanksgiving menus.

"Yeah!"

I jumped up and down on the counter, hugging and kissing Turkey, expecting Kenny would join me and soon Mrs.Malchovich would stop us. But everybody was on the sofa watching TV in silence without giving any reactions to my excitement. I could tell there was something that made them unspeakable happened.

"Don is waiting for you upstairs."

I walked to Sylvia quietly and whispered to her ears. Sylvia, keeping her eyes on TV, slowly pointed at TV.

"Could you go tell him to wait? I can't miss this."

                

 

 

Mr. Sullivan was arrested on tax evasion charges. I don't know what tax evasion was, but they are sending him to the jail.........