Tell Me Everything

Another week passes, and Bob’s forsythia has finally begun to bloom. Today, Margaret is giving a sermon at the Unitarian church in Boston. This is a big honor for Margaret, so she decides she and Bob can take an Uber to Boston rather than driving there themselves. But something about Margaret’s eagerness is off-putting to Bob; “he had the image of a child playing dress-up and being excited by her importance.” Bob is therefore grateful when Margaret encourages him to meet up with a friend rather than attending the sermon.

The return Uber is scheduled for one o’clock, but by the time one comes around, Margaret still hasn’t come back from the church. It’s past three when Margaret arrives, breezily telling Bob that their Uber has canceled. Everybody at the church loved the sermon, and Margaret is so giddy that she does not spot Bob’s anger. Even Bob does not understand why he is so mad until he recalls a childhood memory when his mom left him at a Cub Scout meeting. In both cases, Bob realizes that his anger stems from a feeling of abandonment.

But when Bob tells Margaret about this feeling, she is not receptive. Instead, Margaret snaps that she spends her whole life trying to “negotiate” around Bob’s childhood trauma. Bob throws up his arms in frustration, and Margaret shouts, “don’t you dare raise your arm at me!” Bob then gets even angrier, and he accuses Margaret of “gaslighting” him. 

Bob drives to the 7/11, where he buys cigarettes and smokes them, not caring if Margaret detects the scent on his clothes. As he drives, he recalls his conversation with Lucy Barton about narcissists, and he angrily thinks that Margaret is a textbook narcissist. Two hours later, Margaret comes up to bed and apologizes sincerely to Bob. The next morning, she asks to hear all about the Matt Beach case, and Bob feels somewhat comforted—but he still cannot shake the “age-old sadness” that has recently been brewing inside of him.