Risk

“Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk.”--R.E.M.’s “The Man in the Moon”

“You know who you are.”--R.E.M.’s “All the Way to Reno”

“I’ve said too much, I haven’t said enough.”--R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”

Rose listened to R.E.M when life got really bad. However miserable she was, it made her happy. Certain bands helped. She sang along to American bands. Bruce Springsteen: no. Somehow Springsteen was never right for her. Tom Petty: Yes. R.E.M.: yes. She couldn’t be a Beatle, couldn’t be a Rolling Stone. She did sing along to the John Lennon songs that were banned on the radio, though. Nothing with Eric Clapton ever. She couldn’t quite respect someone who had been in so MANY bands. She couldn’t think of all of them. He played on every album she owned. The Concert for George. Well, that was all right. “I Shot the Sheriff.” An all-time low. “Layla”: not her favorite. She had never know a man who didn’t want to sing “Layla.”

Layla, Lola, Lila: who the hell cared?

While she sang, Ben ignored her, looking at some papers.

He was back.

When Rose started singing “Losing My Religion,” Gabrielle shouted down the stairs, Whoa!

“I think I’m losing my religion,” Rose sang back.

Rose had also read the Jeffrey Rosen article. Like Megan, she was disturbed. She tried to get everybody in the house to read it. Gabrielle had laughed. Who cares about The New York Times? Dorrie read only poetry--and Churchill biographies, she conceded--and didn’t read newspapers. Ben didn’t care, either. Neurolaw and the other stuff...well, if you think they can’t get that anyway...surveillance on computers, in stores. They know everything about everything anyway. They can watch the tapes.

What?

You’re on tape most of your life. So am I.

You’re ridiculous.

They could catch bin Laden if they wanted to.

What?

The tapes.

Only Rose and Megan were solemn.

Is there a movement against this? asked Megan on the phone.

Of course not. You should hear them here. Nobody cares.

That’s pretty much the situation.

There was a pause in the conversation. No one liked intensity and insistence. Carrie had told them that. They never believed her.

One must be cool at all costs, said Megan.

That made them both laugh. If anyone in the world was not cool, it was the Underwoods. They were edgy, tense, intense, anxious. Multiple drugs diagnosed. Only Megan refused to take hers.

But Rose couldn’t be too unhappy. She was having a delightful time. She loved her little shop. She listened to music all day, sat in her office and worked on her spreadsheets, talked to peculiar people, sold strange T-shirts. The t-shirts had sayings in small print on one side of the shirt. Not garish or overwrought. That was what people wanted. It was almost political. You made your statement quietly. No marches, just a damned t-shirt or sweatshirt.

Well...Rose didn’t think it should be that way.

She had never been a sweatshirt kind of woman. She now wore strange hoodies with sayings on them. The clerks believed it helped sell sweatshirts and t-shirts. Rose didn’t really think it was that kind of shop, but she she sometimes took their advice. It was a tactic to keep them working for her. Rose wore a stretchy nylon hoodie when Robert insisted it would help sell it. It was hideous, but she did notice that when all three of them wore it others started to buy it.

Ben had thought Rose intended to marry Kent. She didn’t know where he had gotten that idea. Once she explained that it was all business, he didn’t mind the shop.

YOU’VE LOST YOUR MIND would be a better name for it, he said.

She laughed. She had almost lost her mind. She had thought of the shop because she was so miserable without Ben.

It still wasn’t clear what was going on. Ben was with Rose so much. Nobody knew if he was going to marry Dorrie. That had been the buzz for a while. Now Dorrie was out of the picture. Dorrie said she wasn’t going to marry Ben, that it wasn’t a good idea, that of course she loved him but she couldn’t see marriage. I get sick so often.

So then he visited Rose again. They were in love. That was very clear.

Rose said firmly that Ben WAS going to marry Dorrie. It was a joke. She didn’t want any attention so she let everybody think the marriage was still on. The divorce was still pending. Ben and Rose would never sign the papers. Rose wouldn’t go out in public with him because she didn’t want people to gossip.

Dorrie, puzzled, did not like to come downstairs too much. She was bored with talk about her wedding to Ben. It’s not going to happen, she would say. Nobody believed her.

But Rose and Ben said...

Rose and Ben...Dorrie wasn’t sure where to move next. To her old apartment house? Gabrielle said they’d exploited her and she might as well ignore them. They never come upstairs anyway.

So there were some very, very happy people and some unhappy people taking risks in Rose's household.

"Let’s play Risk"