Equal Affections by David Leavitt

Author:David Leavitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1989-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

March seventh came and went. Walter did not quit his job. At the office his secretary marked the advent of her fourth year in his employ with the gift of a carnation and a card which, when you opened it, sang out “Auld Lang Syne” in a tinny, computerized voice. Other than that, the only acknowledgments were a letter from a senior partner, congratulating Walter on work well done and expressing hope that his association with the firm would last another five years, and a piece of electronic mail, or e-mail, when he switched on the computer in his office early on the anniversary evening. It was from Bulstrode, one of his computer friends.

To: Hunky Lawyer

From: Bulstrode

Subject: Fifth Year Anniversary

Walter,

Congratulations! You have now passed the point of no return. You have resisted temptation, and great rewards are in store for you as a result. Welcome to the real world! Farewell, dreams of youthful wandering! Just wait till you turn forty!

Fondly,

Bullie

Walter smiled. It seemed ironic to him that of all the people in his life, only Bulstrode, who wasn’t really in his life at all, had bothered to acknowledge the passing of this pretty significant day. Bulstrode was a banker in Louisville, Kentucky, and they had “met” (if “met” was the right word) one dreary winter Sunday when Walter was scanning the roster of names logged onto the gay channel in search of some sort of flirtation or dirty conversation. (“Interactive pornography” was how he described it to friends.) Among the Willing Slaves, Sweaty Jocks, Hung Studs, and Tight Ends who were jockeying for space and attention in that strange electronic gay bar of the mind, he had been amused to see for the first time his Louisville friend’s aggressively offbeat handle, and since Bulstrode was one of his favorite characters in Middlemarch, one of his favorite books, he had dashed off a message, asking if indeed a literary allusion was intended. Bulstrode responded with a chat request; they retreated together to that little hypothetical private room, where Bulstrode acknowledged that Walter had guessed his source. He was Bulstrode because Bulstrode was, like him, a banker; also, he added, because the name had enough of a violent edge to interest the less literary. And who was this hunky lawyer, who recognized a name from Middlemarch? What was he doing in semiliterate compu-land? “Information,” Bulstrode typed, “we want information!”

In his past computer-enhanced communications Walter had been reluctant about divulging any true history, but Bulstrode for some reason put him at ease. Walter admitted certain salient facts, being careful not to be too specific, then asked Bulstrode about himself, a subject on which he was less forthcoming not, Walter suspected, because he had anything to hide, but because the facts of his real life simply held no interest for him. “Bulstrode’s” biography, which he gave pieces of, was not, it quickly became clear, a thing of the real world. When Walter asked how old he was, he answered, “Bulstrode is 32,” which made him suspect the banker in Louisville to be significantly older.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.