AN AFFAIR

Miss Catherine Belk sat in her refined manner at the French Umbrella restaurant, her hand on the other seat, her white gloves lingering over the table's edge in a manner.  With her silver hair up, in a white suit Catherine was the portrait of mature elegance and femininity.

  She waited for her close personal friend, Mr. Ralston Allman.  A writer, he just finished some of his best work about the symphony's concert last night.  He joined her, removing his tan straw hat, laying his walking stick over a chair, sitting as close to Catherine as he could.  While they were beyond the thought of being lovers, they were decisively in love.  Their eyes matched intimacy, just a slender space apart.

  'I didn't expect your call,' Ralston said in a whisper.
  'I didn't expect to be calling, but it was worth it,' Catherine said.
  'Worth it?'
  'You remember my friend Janny Selenger, she is the computer analyst for the electric company whom I introduced to Charles Manin and...
  'You said, 'A match if I ever saw one,' Ralston reminded her.  'Are they engaged?'
  'They aren't even speaking,' Catherine said glancing away.
  'But you're the wise old matchmaker, Cathy, how could this happen?  It tarnishes your reputation in the Park Central neighborhood.'
  'Now hush you.  Janny is distraught.  She had to leave work, she tore down the pictures of him from her cubicle, she is in tears.'
  Ralston thought.  'It might be just as well.'
  'What in heaven's name do you mean?'
  'He might not be what he seems.  What did you know about him, anyway?
  'Well, he was her type.  She is thin, he is portly.  She is intellectual, he is ambitious.  What more could you want in our flock of folks?'
  'How about interest?  Or attraction, or loyalty or something upon which a relationship might be built.'
  'Oh you are impossible.  Why doesn't he even like her?  She's smart, she's thin, she has serious hair, she has money and a fine career.  What more does a man in our class want?'
  'Maybe he wants his own wife.  Did you ever think of that, Miss Manners?'
  'Don't you call me that, I was merely trying to help them along in life,' Cathy said brushing her hands as if to wipe her conscious of the affair.
  'You were bored in the afternoon, like you are now.  Imaging you could create something between two different people that did not exist.'
  'It was up to them to create something, darling.  All I did was introduce them to each other.'
  'Janny felt you expected the relationship to work, as if you saw something in him she didn't see.  She felt obligated, so her expectations were too high.  It's one thing to introduce two lonely people, it's another thing for sparks to fly.'
  'Oh well, I suppose it just didn't work, or something.  What do you think went wrong?'

  Ralston thought for a long moment.  'Janny's emotional tank is low; she 's not the emotional-loving type, she's not the housewife type and she's not young.  She's a professional technology engineer with grown children and fading years.  He wasn't looking for her, she wasn't looking for him.'
  'I tried speaking with her on the cell phone, she just broke down every time I said something.  I feel so much for her, what are we to do?'
  'We?  Oh no, not we.  You, if anyone.  You probably have done enough for one weekend.  Let her spend some time with her horses in Vail.  She needs to get away and then come back later.  Don't call her just yet.'
  'I feel responsible.'
  'You are responsible, but you can't fix feelings in a heartbeat.  Just lay low and Janny will recover as certain woman have for centuries.  Maybe take her to dinner in two weeks.'
  'Do you think she'll get married again?'

  Ralston thought.  'I don't know the future, only God does.  Maybe she's just out of balance, what being so brilliant with computers but so negligent with her own feelings.  Maybe she doesn't know how to respond to a man, or certain men.'
  'You sound like you're searching around for something to say,' Catherine said, thoughtfully.
  'I am.  I can't say anything that will change events, or make her life different.  You have to be a different person to have a different life.'
  Catherine said, 'All she's ever done is work her career, train her horses, and try to be a part-time mother.  It must be hard to do that, being single all the while.'

  Ralston saw Catherine's beauty.  'You live single, love.  You don't seem to be conflicted...how do you do it?'
  Catherine smiled at Ralston.  'Dear, I don't want anything more than what I have, you and my style here in the Park and my investments and charities and social parties.  I like what I have.'  Catherine twirled her diamonds proudly, she touched her silver hair in place.  She enjoyed being herself.
  'Possibly there is more to Janny than we know or than even she knows.  Maybe out of this she will realize what she wants,' he said.  'Write her a note, I think she'll be all right.'

  Ralston ordered drinks for both of them, which they took without speaking, just gazing at each other.  They then left the restaurant, strolling around the village square, hand in hand, perfectly enjoying being themselves.
After their stroll, Ralston escorted Catherine back to her car, where he kissed her good-bye for now.