We Must Have You In For Tea by Constantine Gochis

 

How to describe them. They are young. She is blonde and comely.  He is darkly handsome. She makes conversation easily. He is always silent. We have met perhaps three times in the elevator. We live on the same floor.

In these brief meetings--perhaps half a minute each--I have learned about her by observation, and more volunteered by her in a charming British accent.

They are newly married. She is a student at a university and is about to take final examinations. Our conversations always end with the same invitation: "When the exams are over, we must have you in for tea."

There is something endearing about her innocence and charm, though I feel she is perhaps a little too convivial on so short an acquaintance. My response is always the same, polite and laconic. There is little time to amplify our conversation. "It will be my pleasure."

One day she was effusively radiant and voluble with joy.

"I passed my exams!" she announced. I half expected her to jump up and down like a child. The encounter ended as before. "We must have you in for tea," she said, but there was nothing more concreted offered.

Her husband was, as before, silent, his head tilted downward.

It was several months since we had met. I assumed they had moved, as our building has been purchased and remodeled. And there has been an exodus of tenants taking flight for fear of a rent raise.

Yesterday, I rode up on the elevator with a young man I did not immediately recognize. I asked him if he had just moved in.

He looked at me with surprise, but did not answer. Then I recognized him. It was the dour husband of the exuberant English girl. We rode to our floor in silence. As we walked to our apartments he spoke suddenly.

"My wife has invited you to tea," he said, his head still inclined downward. I could not ascertain from his terse monotone what his opinion might be on the matter. I probed further.

"Your wife is British. Tea is important to the British."

"Yes," he answered quickly, looking up, his expression suggesting this was a condition he knew something about, and had particular meaning to him. His expression was conspiratorial, even friendly.

"It will be soon," he said, and I felt he had come to a decision about a matter that may have engendered much discussion with his ebullient wife. It is the springtime of their nuptial state.

"I will be my pleasure," I said, in parting.