Page 71 - Effable Encounters

Autologue

body bags. And the rest of the veterans will become junkies, pariahs,
and Republicans. Keep your student deferment until you’re past your
twenty-seventh birthday.”
“Now, that’s a laugh. Johnson ran on a platform of not getting
involved further in that Indochinese civil war. If the summer goes by
and he doesn’t do what you say, then I’ll know your cockeyed
universe really has nothing to do with mine.”
“Fair enough. Now let me give you some other advice, the most
important I can think of. Go and make up with Gwendolyn. Don’t
let her slip out of your hands. You won’t find another girl like her.
She’s got looks and her parents have got loot. You may not think
much of that combination right now, but take an older man’s advice:
eat your words, swallow your pride, and get engaged before you
graduate from college. You know she likes you.”
“Now, wait a minute. Are you telling me that you didn’t marry
Gwendolyn, and that failing to do so made such a negative difference
in your life?”
“Well, let me put it this way: in retrospect, with the wisdom of
hindsight, I can easily imagine a much more pleasant twenty-five
years than I’ve just spent—if I hadn’t let that relationship die.”
“Hmm. Is your life really miserable? Have you accomplished
nothing? Are you lonely and bitter? In debt? In trouble?”
“My God: you sound like a television commercial. Now I
remember what a wise-ass I was at your age.”
“Never mind that. If you want me to take this seriously, you had
better answer my questions. Well?”
“I think I know what you’re getting at, young man. The truth is
that I haven’t done too badly for myself. I’ve got a good job at—”
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t want to hear the gory details. I just want you
to admit that even though you think you screwed up by not marrying
Gwendolyn Diamante, you still could have turned out a lot worse
than you did.”
“Oh, come off it. Just because you’re still in school you think you
know all the answers! Obviously, changing something as significant
as a spouse will have profound effects on every succeeding event in
one’s life, and that opens up the possibility of extremely negative
consequences as well as positive ones.”

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