Part of Stewart’s method for curbing his junior
co-worker’s temptation to open his mouth and talk to anyone he wasn’t supposed
to about this, who would then feel the very human urge to gossip unnecessarily
about the secret they had been let in on, was to chat about the occurrence as
if they were talking about shopping, mowing the lawn, or worrying about
monetary concerns. Stewart was still
experiencing all three of these considerations, plus a dozen or so more, in his
married life. When he was on the verge
of leaving his teenage years behind, domestic harmony had been the
advertisement to sell the concept of marriage to him. The accumulation of
adult-based sensibilities had allowed him to cope with him waking up to the
truth that the sales pitch was a sugar-coated fabrication, with the reality not
rewarding him with any of the delights promised; all he received instead were
dirty nappies, sleepless nights, marital arguments – one or two, in his case,
leading to two trial separations – and psychologically-felt disenchantments.
The only flame of hope that burned
was that he wasn’t going to suffer alone:
his circumstances were undoubtedly common.
He had definitely been a stabilising influence in Paul’s
own life, taking on the responsibility of looking out for, and professionally
nurturing the new boy. When he and Paul weren’t being one part of a
scheme to remove outer space vehicles from the locations they landed at, their
occupation was to commute furniture from one property to the newer
residence. The jobs they did in amongst
this could slip into the gaps in between the duration of every time they
ensured somebody’s personal, house-based possessions made it safely from the
house that had been sold to the one that had been bought, so that it became
unofficial enough for no impetus to be available that might make anyone’s
curiosity fire up. It could not be seen
to be anything special, certainly not in private discussions. These examples of verbally exchanging
information had to be kept within the psychological and physical boundaries set
by the powers-that-be. The one freedom
they did have was to express their views on these jobs to each other. Yet, in spite of there being over five years
of these conversations, Paul had never asked the obvious question relating to
their recent endeavour, until now.
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