RichEisbrouch

After New Year’s Day and despite Joe’s continued reluctance, Ella began to see the doctors recommended by her family doctor, David Felberbaum. At first, my mother went with her, but when Mama mainly found herself sitting in the waiting rooms, Ella realized she didn’t need to waste her sister’s time. “Actually, the examinations aren’t as humiliating as I thought,” she explained. “They usually take less that a half-hour and are often far shorter. Then we sit and talk.” “D

Yep, we learned a lot in a handful of directions, and next, we're headed back to the main story.

If Laurie needed to do schoolwork after Ella picked him up in the afternoons, they often went to the reading room of the Historical Society. Otherwise, they went to a museum or to see a moving picture. It was getting too cold for the zoo, but not cold enough for ice skating. They also visited some of Laurie’s friends, to play, while Ella chatted with the boys’ mothers or their housekeepers. Either way, I knew where they’d be in the afternoons, so I could go safely to Joe’s apartment to talk with

People in previous times were remarkably forward thinking, and we seem to have forgotten that. That's one of the reasons it's fun to write fiction, especially when remarkable people like Virginia Gildersleeve and Ferdinand Pecora turn up as supporting characters. Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (October 3, 1877 - July 7, 1965) was an American academic, the long-time dean of Barnard College, co-founder of the International Federation of University Women, and the only woman delegated by United States to the April 1945 San Francisco United Nations Conference on International Organization, which negotiated the charter for and creation of the United Nations. Ferdinand Pecora (January 6, 1882 – December 7, 1971) was an American lawyer and New York State Supreme Court judge who became famous in the 1930s as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency during its investigation of Wall Street banking and stock brokerage practices.

Yeah, well, Joe is a nice guy, he loves Ella, and he'd really like to stay married. But his body won't cooperate. Ella is frustrated by that and by two-thirds of his immediate family and their behavior toward her. But she loves Joe, too.

Another thing we talked about at dinner was something Ella was concerned about but hadn’t mentioned. Mama seemed less surprised, so I suspect she already knew, as I’d long realized how close the two of them were. I’d once asked, “Do you tell Ella everything?” and Mama admitted, “Usually.” “More than you tell Papa?” She’d smiled. “Well, especially things I know he’s not interested in.” Still, the bonds were something Papa might have known more about and cert

It's not just Ella. The 1920s were very forward thinking. Some of that got set back with the Depression, or maybe it just rested quietly and didn't go away.

“What!” Herbert nearly shouted when he heard what Ella said at dinner. “I can’t believe you lived that way for two years. What kind of a marriage is that?” “Herbert,” my father cautioned. “Keep your voice down.” “Why?” Herbert asked grinning. “Everyone’s here.” My father still motioned with both of his hands – “Lower.” “I need to talk with you,” Herbert immediately told Ella. “Alone and – ideally – in the bedroom.” “Herbert!” my fa

Yep, that's the quiet step that continues the book.

Ella certainly wasn’t happy with what she’d heard at dinner, but she knew what was important to her, and the next afternoon, Florrie gave her a short list of the names of lawyers who handled divorce. Pic had collected them. “They’re all men, of course,” Florrie was the first to mention. “You seem surprised,” I answered. “No. I suppose it’s a man’s field,” she acknowledged. “Like medicine or business.” “Do you know any of these men?” Ella asked,

Good choice. I need to read this book again after I finish some other projects. I just don't see Jim the way you and some other readers have, and I need to make that more apparent. Thanks, again.

Yeah, I understand that, and the best thing for you to do is move on to a book you're happier with, mine or someone else's. It's simply inherent in this book that Jim is in love with Dane, partly because Jim doesn't like losing things, like he's already lost his mother, and he thinks if he's patient, Dane will come back. Of course, patience doesn't necessarily mean faithful, as you'll soon see, if you decide to stick around.

Yep, Jim isn't at all meant to be tragic, and -- at least, in my thoughts -- he's fairly well-balanced and funny in his handling of most things. But every time he thinks about Dane, he turns into a drooling fourteen-year-old, as you've pointed out, if not even younger. To me, Jim is successfully working thought a series of tough problems, starting with his father's conservatism, his mother's death, and his bike accident, but I've learned about him and about this book from reading other people's comments. And if you don't remember how well-grounded he really is, he can seem like a whiner. As usual, thanks for your thoughts.

Yep, as Pic says, "Divorce is a hateful process." But it's less tough legally now, here, almost a hundred years later. And it just doesn't seem that long ago. These people seem contemporary in their thinking, which is a point of reading history -- and, also, in reading literature of earlier times.,

Almost a week later, Pic, Florrie, and Lewis had dinner with Mama, Papa, Ella, and me. I’d thought about asking Howard because, all along, I’d been telling him what was happening with Ella, but she preferred that we keep the dinner smaller. “I want to ask Pic about lawyers, and Howard probably doesn’t know anything about them.” I might have reminded her that his father occasionally found himself in police stations, bailing out one his rum-running brothers, and had to arrange to find

Yep, this is probably my best book, written in collaboration with my brother. Hope you enjoy it.

I'm not entirely sure about that. As Ella points out, Joe works very hard, and it's not so much that he's purposely ignoring her and his family, it's more that he's focused on his work, as he has been since he was twelve. No one's ever told him to behave differently. That's one of the reasons Ethel loves Howard: he's different.

The telephone rang as we were having dessert, and even as we heard Emily going into the hallway to answer, Ella said, “It’s probably Joe. He’ll just be coming home from New Jersey so just found out.” To confirm that, Emily came into the dining room and told us, “It’s Mr. Spingarn, asking if his wife is here. And if she is, could he speak with her?” “I don’t want to lie,” Ella replied, “but I don’t want to speak with him alone, either. You know how charming he is. He can

It's not like Matthew was especially old, but he was raised in a more conservative time, and for all his intelligence, he didn't learn. But, yeah, by the '90s, so many gay men who grew up after Stonewall simply said, "Fuck it. I'm gay. So what?" I was working in theater, so even in my teens, in the '60s, many of my role models were successful gay men: the writers Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and, a few years later, Mart Crowley. The designer Oliver Smith. I couldn't say much about their personal lives, but their professional ones were fine, and that's what I followed. And I read -- a lot. The Village Voice offered views of happy gay men, celebrating in the village, on Fire Island, in Provincetown, and seemingly in all of San Francisco. It also offered warnings of what was coming to be known as Aids, so I learned to be careful. And, slowly, I also learned what I was looking for and held out until I found it -- though, admittedly, playing carefully along the way. But Harry is far nicer than I am, and wiser. He also had the benefit of my friends reading the first four or five versions of this book and saying, "This won't do." So Harry became nicer and nicer, and he taught me to be that way, too. Interesting what we can learn from fiction -- even when you think you're controlling it. Also, as I've said, I need to go back and edit, or at least proofread, this book one more time. And make Harry nicer still.

I wouldn't underestimate Ella.

Yes. I've tried to go back and make a lot of my writing timeless, especially eliminating references to technology, but you found some I missed. Thanks. Still, there are people who are so guarded that they still use P.O. boxes to contact possible sex partners or lovers, especially in smaller communities. But it's no longer the norm.

At dinner, Ella explained to my father – and to Uncle Herbert and Aunt Essie, who happened to be there – why she was leaving Joe. Hearing it again also made it clearer to me. “It’s not even that I’m used to being obeyed,” she began, “but I’m used to being heard... to being listened to. I expect that what I say will at least be considered, but that’s not what’s been happening for the last two years. Laurette and her grandfather simply ignore me. And worse, she says the most awful thi

You're welcome. I said this one was easier than Pendleton Omens. Again, thanks for reading. Rich

And yep again. Thanks.

Thanks. Good to know, since humor is sometimes hard to share.