Tell Me Everything

By the end of April, every tulip and magnolia tree in Park Slope is in full bloom. But Jim, sick of the bright sun and the happy families, can only think of Helen. Ever since Helen died, Jim feels that he is alone in a “new country,” a “private club” of grief that only other people who have lost their spouses can understand. “Oh Jim Burgess!” the narrator laments. “What are we to do with you?” Desperate, Jim finally decides to fly to Maine, where he stays with Susan.

Back in New York, Pam is also not doing well. First, Lydia Robbins drops in unannounced at Pam’s apartment in the city. The two women do not discuss Ted or Lydia’s betrayal. Instead, Lydia makes some digs at Pam’s interior design, and kisses Pam on the cheek, even though she knows Pam is a germaphobe. The whole thing feels “unsavory,” and it doesn’t help that the next day, all Pam’s social plans get canceled—now, she has nothing to do but sit and stew.

On Saturday night, Pam goes to her Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but there are very few people there. Then Sunday descends “with a quietness that Pam had long ago learned to distrust.” After going back and forth with herself—“Yes. No. Yes.”—Pam walks into the bright sunshine and buys herself vodka and wine. She starts to drink, then passes out. By the time Pam wakes up, she has urinated on her expensive couch. The next morning, Pam calls her AA sponsor, and then she calls Bob. Bob assures Pam that he believes in her.

Bob heads over to Susan’s house to visit Jim. When he gets there, his heart “positively overflow[s]” to see Jim sitting in his sister’s easy chair. Jim is polite, asking Susan about her retirement and about her flirtation with Gerry O’Hare; Jim thinks Susan should ask Gerry to dinner. Susan then reveals that Larry and his wife Ariel plan to ask Jim to go to the Caribbean for a birthday trip. Jim just looks out the window: “I’d rather slit my own throat.”