On Friday, Jun10, 2022, at10:39 PM CET, Maddie Smith
wrote:
Alan,
I remember now the first time I knew that I loved you. It was before I'd even met you, when I read that piece you wrote on the Hoover Dam. I had never before entertained the possibility that monumental engineering projects could be arousing, but in your hands, dear...
That's what I thought of as I read your most recent...submission. It was lovely, dear, though brief, and a bit schematic. Still, I read it this morning before I left for work, and I've felt tingly all day just thinking about it. So now, to share my gratitude, let me tell you how I spent last night.
You may recall that I was in a sulk, darling. A day of frustrating meetings, a botched email from you. I needed a drink. None of these silly spritzs that everyone's drinking these days. I needed a martini, darling. Ice cold and bone dry. They make a fine one in the hotel bar, so I freshened up and headed downstairs. There's just no use stewing alone in one's room, I think.
I was just beginning to enjoy my drink when a very dull, very tall, very American finance type sat down next to me--uninvited of course--and proceeded to tell me all about how exchange rates or something, and how much he resents the property tax rates in Chappaqua. Or Scarsdale. Or Greenwich. I can't remember.
When I saw Annette passing through the lobby, I told him that my dinner date had arrived, and I called her over. She really is such a dear. She understood immediately, and we made our escape, arm in arm, leaving Tom Chappaqua to mutter to himself about lesbians. And taxes no doubt.
I still haven't told you about my previous dinner with Annette. Nor, I believe will I tell you much about this one, except to say that these dinners have been surprisingly romantic. Before you ask, I will reassure you: I haven't slept with her. But the conversation, dear...
I have to tell you that you came up. She asked of course, when she realized who I was, she asked about you.
"What's it like to be married to a famous writer?" they always ask.
"You'll have to ask him," I always say.
That line always gets a laugh.
They don't always ask the next question, but she did. "Is it true what I hear about the two of you?"
Sometimes I leave them guessing, dear. I smile. I tilt my head. I say something literary and inscrutable. Tonight though, I leaned in and said, "What do you hear about the two of us?"
Annette said, "That you sleep with whomever you want, then you go home and tell him all the details. That his short story The Cuckold's Hat is not really fiction."