HE CAN ONLY HEAR A SIDE OF A CONVERSATION

 HE CAN ONLY HEAR A SIDE OF A CONVERSATION

“ Yes, he took up birdwatching, do you know? Oh , it’s only an excuse …to spy on them” This was one of the sentences of the conversation that he had heard by chance and of which he had only been able to hear Cloe’s voice. Cloe was talking with Bob . He, Peter had only been able to hear what Cloe was saying, while he hadn’t heard a word of what Bob said. Peter had not resisted his curiosity to listen to them furtively and yet he had not been able to understand what the two colleagues were talking about so fiercely because he was not able to hear Bob’s voice which reached him in an indistinct mumble. Yes, as everyone know, Bob ate his words as he spoke.

“ No, I’m not sure about this, I don’t know…and yet…and yet I would bet so” said Cloe after the ask of Bob that Peter had not been able to hear.

“No, this is impossible instead! Why? But because Leon is a very gentle person. He is someone who knows how to behave civilly in every situation. He had never resorted to violence and never he would resort to it!” Cloe exclaimed with great conviction.

Peter had passed by chance in front of the half-open door of that classroom in the school almost deserted and he immediately recognized Cloe’s voice who was talking yes, but with whom? He had time listening to understand that it was Bob, who Cloe addressing by name. But what the hell were they talking about? They were talking about someone to whom something was happening. Someone who had to be Leon, could understand Peter when Cloe mentioned her name. Leon who was perhaps being betrayed by his wife and who, to have an excuse to spy on her together with her lover, had started birdwatching.

But Peter wasn’t sure he had understood correctly, and so he had continued to stay by the ajar door, at the risk of being caught eavesdropping. There was something that didn’t add up to him in what he thought he understood. Leon and his wife were considered by everyone to be a happy and close-knit couple, their marriage was a successful marriage.  Then how was it possible that his wife cheating on Leon? It didn’t make sense…or maybe it was him ( Peter)who was confusing and it wasn’t Leon who was betrayed at all. From what Peter had heard, if it wasn’t Leon who was betrayed, then he (Leon) had to be the one who betrayed….But again it made no sense. Perhaps he was wrong to assume it was a matter of betrayal or horns, Peter was saying to himself when he heard Cloe’s voice saying: “None of us would have ever expected this…It’s a truly unfortunate situation “ Ah, but then he wasn’t wrong, Peter said to himself. The situation which was truly unfortunate and which no one had expected concerned, of course, Leon and his wife Helen: one of the two was cheating on the other…That is what no one would have ever expected…But wait a moment…Cloe had never mentioned Helen’s name. It was he, Peter, who on hearing Leon’s name, had thought that the other subject in question had to be his wife Helen. Then it could have been that the betrayal did not concern Leon or Helen but others. And then why did it necessarily to be a matter (a question) of betrayal or, put it bluntly, of horns? It could have been something else.

“Of course friends have the right to intervene, I think so “ was saying Cloe. “ We tried to talk to him and also to her…but everything continued to go on as before” she added. Oh, but then he hadn’t been wrong, he had understood correctly…it was a he and a she, therefore a story of betrayal, Peter said to himself. But he couldn’t understand who it was who was betraying and who was the betrayed one. And then there was the unknown of the third person involved: with whom was the cheater cheating?

“ NO, none of us knew anything until she explicitly admitted it” aCloe ws saying. SHE….but WHO? He can’t help but wonder Peter: Helen or the woman Leon cheated on her with? Or instead the partner of the man with whom Helen cheated Leon? Peter wondered , increasingly pressed by the curiosity, by the urgency to understand whom Cloe and Bob were talking about. He tried to understand what he had heard  Cloe  say, who was still speaking. “ For all of us it would be  desirable that the matter had a positive outcome…oh, I mean that it did not end tragically, but rather reasonably “  But listen, Peter said himself, wondering what a reasonable outcome of the matter might have been if, as he seemed to understand, it was treason or a matter of horns.

“ The story has been going on for months and now we can say that it is in the public domain…” Cloe’s words were followed by an incomprehensible mutter from Bob. “No, he is too gentleman to resort to certain means. What do you think, Bob? That he will resign himself? Ah, maybe, but I believe that he will fight to get Helen back. And I hope he will be successful. “ said Cloe. Peter breathed a sigh of relief : therefore he had understood correctly: It was Helen who cheated on Leon. But with whom? He hadn’t been able to know this. The story that he had reconstructed from Cloe’s words intrigued him a lot and he would have liked to know more. He would still have been eavesdropping on that conversation if he hadn’t been surprised by Tony’s arrival in the corridor.  Tony was one of the janitors and Peter was worried that he had caught him eavesdropping.   “ Good afternoon, professor. Still at work?” Tony asked with a mischievous smile. “ No, I was looking for a colleague of mine” Peter stammered embarrassed.

“ May I know who you were looking for?” asked Tony. “ Oh, Leon…Leon  Brahms” Peter muttered without thinking. “ Ah, but I can assure you that professor Brahms is not here. He called a little ago from home”

“ When it is like this I can leave,” said Peter, moving away from the half-open door, cursing in his heart Tony for having caught him eavesdropping.