New friends and old stories don’t always mix

 

It was one of those boring nights at a friendly neighbor’s house and for lack of anything interesting to talk about, we began to gossip about friends and other neighbors – nothing serious or malicious, just fun and light.  My neighbor was one of those people who knew something about everyone and within the hour, she started to give me the backstage stories of people.

To show I was also in some sort of loop with the goings on, I gave her the story of a male mutual friend of ours, Andy, which someone had just told me. The gist was that Andy, a married man, had sexually propositioned his friend’s wife. Initially, she refused his advances but after a while, agreed and invited him over to the house during working hours when her husband would be away. When he got there, she was waiting but so were her husband and a few friends.

 

They grabbed the guy and beat him to a pulp. Andy’s poor wife probably suffered more because the shame threw the usually lively woman into hiding to avoid the disgrace of her husband’s foolishness. I even criticized the couple (just a little bit), saying i felt they could have handled the situation better by simply telling off the stupid and dumb Andy - something that would have ensured their privacy.

At the end of the narrative, my friend gave me a strange look. I asked why and she said – ‘Are you trying to tell me something?’ The question was confusing. She continued, ‘You know the couple in the story is me and my husband, right?’ At my shock, she frowned, ‘You didn’t know it was us?’ In a disbelieving tone, she added, ‘I know you know, or maybe you wanted to be sure.’ I honestly didn’t know she was the woman in the story but I don’t think she believes me. Things have been a little awkward.