Subject: Question
From: N.Wharton@QueenElizabeth.org.sa
Date: 3/8/13
To: KitKat123@hotmail.co.uk
Dear Kat,
I wish I properly understood why you suddenly decided you had to stop writing to me, however many weeks ago it was. (Five I think.) It was like something made you afraid. Please don’t be afraid, Kat. I also keep thinking about the ‘difficult stuff’ you mentioned and hoping it has now been resolved.
You hurled the word ‘deceit’ at me when I was only mucking around. No, I had not, as it happens, mentioned our correspondence to Donna, or anyone else for that matter, but that’s hardly a big deal. Whether you had told your husband or not doesn’t bother me either. We were enjoying a private (if not ‘personal’!!) exchange of emails. End of.
Can I reiterate that I have been happily married for sixteen years and have every intention of continuing that way? Donna and I are fine. Like rocks! We have different interests, having been together long enough to recognise the importance of being separate as well as a ‘couple’. I saw my correspondence/friendship with you as falling into that separateness – something harmless to her and pleasing for me.
The reason I am dropping you another line now is because it looks like we might be in England for a week in September and I was wondering if you would let me take you and Eleanor out for a cup of tea/coffee. It would be fun to catch up and talk about old times. We go back a long way the three of us, and life is short.
All the best,
Nick
Subject: Reply
From: KitKat123@hotmail.com
Date: 4/8/13
To: N.Wharton@QueenElizabeth.org.sa
No I do not think meeting up would be a good idea. Not now. Not ever.
Please try to forget that we were ever in touch.
Subject: PS
From: N.Wharton@QueenElizabeth.org.sa
Date: 5/8/13
To: KitKat123@hotmail.com
I meant to say, I would tell Donna about it of course. Coffee with two old friends, i.e. You have nothing to fear!
Nick
Subject: Request
From: N.Wharton@QueenElizabeth.org.sa
Date: 14/8/13
To: KitKat@hotmail.co.uk
Dear Kat,
Your silence speaks volumes.
So may I – by way of a last favour – ask your opinion on something I have been brooding over for a while? (And no, I haven’t run it past Donna yet because I know already what she will say… one of the hazards of having been close to someone for nearly two decades!)
Lately I have been toying with the idea of a major change of track. So much about my life out here is good but, as I was once only too eager to tell people (and as you remembered!), I used to harbour serious reservations about pursuing medicine. Recently those reservations have been creeping back over me. In fact, I can’t seem to shake off the idea of retraining as a teacher (English? Science? Some cricket/tennis coaching thrown in?!) and leading a rather different, slower-paced sort of life in the run up to my dotage. Possibly in England. I miss England, I really do.
Try not to laugh at me. I would value your thoughts.
Nick
Subject: Reply
From: KitKat123@hotmail.com
Date: 15/8/13
To: N.Wharton@QueenElizabeth.org.sa
If you value my thoughts, then hear this:
To retrain as a teacher would be the act of a lunatic. You think you miss England, but you are probably hankering after an idyll – nostalgic for something that never actually existed and never will.
Dreams are best left in our heads, where they can do no harm.
Hold fast to what you have. You never know when it might be taken away.
Goodbye Nick and good luck.