Goodbye Jolly, Goodbye Karen

Goodbye Jolly, Goodbye Karen

Jolly and Karen had an idea. They had been friends forever, but just recently, they had become lovers. Then, they moved in together. They were very happy, very compatible and quite a bit in love. They talked all the time and they had quite a few good ideas. Today, they had their best idea. They decided to plant a tree together.

“Jolly, what a wonderful idea!You are just so cool. I do have a question about it though. We now live in a small house. Yes, we have a yard but it isn’t very big. My guess is that someday we will move to a bigger place.  Some day we might even have children and want an even bigger place. What will become of our tree if we plant it here?” Karen looked at him rather soulfully.

“Well, my darling, dear, I have actually considered that. It’s a very good question and I have a very good answer. I feel like this will not be the only tree we will ever plant. In fact, I think we should just commit to planting trees wherever we go. Which means we will have to be very careful about the trees we plant. For instance, on this small lot, I think we should plant a variety of Crepe Myrtle that won’t grow very tall, but will bloom a lot and beautifully. So, no matter who lives here, they will love the tree and it will mean a lot to them. If we are in a bigger house, bigger lot, where we think we will live a much longer time, then I would suggest a liquidambar.”

“So,” said Karen, we just plant a nice tree and leave it behind when we move on? I am not sure I want to plant a tree that we will love and leave behind. How would it feel if we had a baby and left it behind some day?” Karen was now slightly petulant.

“Oh come on, Karen. There is a vast difference between a beautiful tree and a beautiful baby. Are you serious? You can’t be.” Jolly was looking slightly annoyed. They were in the kitchen and he walked out into the small living room He sat down with a “whoompf.” He let out a little sigh and picked up a paper, one about programming, and started reading it.

“Jolly! Come back in here. That was not nice. You are definitely oversimplifying things.” Instead, Karen walked out into the living room. There was only enough room for two chairs and she took the other one.

“Jolly, I have recognized what a great idea you had, but it’s just a little deeper than that. The tree will be growing thing and we will grow to love it. We will take great care in picking out, maybe a Crepe Myrtle, but maybe a dwarf Japanese Maple. Then, we will plant it with great care, learn all about it and take such very good care of it. In a way it will be our baby and knowing us, we will just love it to death.”

“Karen, you are just a little over the top. We are only talking about a tree. We can plant, enjoy it for a year or two, take care of it and then move on. What are you going on about?”

Her face flushed with anger, Karen all but shouted out, “What am I getting on about? What’s wrong with you? You are being so shallow, superficial. This tree will represent our love for each other, what we mean to each other, it will be born from that love and should be treated with tender, loving care, honored.”

“Good grief, Karen,” Jolly was getting frustrated. “How you prattle on. I just can’t believe it. It’s a tree. Damnit, how many times do I have to say it. It’s not an ancient redwood or sequoia that’s lived forever, it’s stupid little tree.”

“Stupid little tree? Jolly, I am so disappointed in you. It would be our tree, our very own,” and Karen started to cry. She looked at Jolly reproachfully, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Oh my god, Karen. This is just too much. I never suspected you would be this sentimental, this maudlin. What a shock this is. I thought we were going to be happy for a long time.”

“What? What are you saying? Are you saying we are going to break up? Just because you have no feelings? Because you are a sallow, shallow stupid man? Well, I guess that’s just as good a reason as any. Get out of my house.” Karen was beyond angry, fists tight and glaring at Jolly.

“Your house? Your house? I paid for my half of this house. Now you have really lost it. Besides being over the top, totally irrational and, gee, I guess, crazy, you have lost touch with reality. I’ll tell you what. I will gladly get out right now. I’ll go spend tonight with a friend and when you go to work tomorrow, I will come and get all my stuff. You can stay in the house, but when you sell it, you owe me half and I will expect you to pay me. Good-bye, Karen.” He turned to go out the door.

Crying just about as hard as she could, Karen said, “Goodby, Jolly.”

In spite of her heavy crying and deep remorse, Karen stuck to her guns. She didn’t want Jolly back. Jolly was of the same mind. He was just buffaloed that Karen could be so irrational over such a trivial matter.

They were programmers at Apple computers in Silicon Valley. Both of them were very good at what they did and had bright futures ahead of them. It was easy to work late into the evening and forget about the other person. From time to time, they missed each other and felt tinges of remorse, but they moved on and developed new relationships.

Jolly left Apple and went to work for a strong, venture backed start up. That start up grew and became quite successful. As the company grew and Jolly progressed, he became increasingly disenchanted with high tech and the manners of his peers. He had risen to the level of vice president and did very well when the company completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO). 

He had married a school teacher, had three children and loved his married life. They had a nice house and were comfortable. He resigned and took some time off. After awhile, he decided he wanted to be busy and work at a job that meant something to his community. He hired onto the US Postal Service as a delivery person. His friends were astonished and slowly his friends changed to new friends. Kali, his wife, loved him all the more for it. As far as she was concerned, they had all they would ever need.

Meanwhile, Karen threw herself deeply into her work. She was an extremely good programmer and she had closed her emotions down after leaving Jolly. She worked and worked and the teams she managed became larger and larger. She also did outstanding work and developed several crucial algorithms in the operating system and in a couple of strategic applications. She was a very attractive woman and was noticed by a hotshot young venture capitalist. Eventually, they married, moved to Woodside and had two children. Karen rose to the title of Senior Vice President and ran all software development and deployment. 

Karen was attending one of the many conferences that required her attention and as she was walking across the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel she saw a postman walking toward the door. She stared at him. It couldn’t be, but it was, Jolly.

“Jolly.” She yelled after him and ran toward him, unaware that she was running. Jolly turned and saw her He launched a smile that almost blinded several people who were standing nearby. People were staring as she ran into his waiting arms and they hugged quite noisily. 

Then they stepped apart and smiled at each other. They each could see the love in the other’s eyes. They were holding hands when Jolly asked, “how many kids?”

Karen, smiled and replied, “A boy and a girl. You?”

He held on to her hands and said, through another incendiary smile, “Three girls. Lights of my life, beautiful, smart, athletic and gifted.”

“Oh, is that all,” Karen laughed and said. “Is one of them going to be president?” 

Jolly laughed and responded, “Probably the middle one. She does all the negotiating between her older and her younger sisters.” He laughed again.

They took deep breaths and just looked at each other for a long while. “I have an idea,” Jolly said.

“Oh no!,” cried Karen “I think one in a lifetime is enough.”

“Trust me, you will like this one.”

“I liked the first one, it was just the aftermath that went south,” replied Karen. 

“Do you have a car here and do you have 30 minutes?,” asked Jolly.

“Yes to both.”

“OK. Let’s get the car.”

They walked down to the car in the garage in silence, but Karen figured she knew where they were going.

Sure enough, when they were settled in the car, Jolly said, “Let’s go to the house. Do you remember how to get there?”

“Never will forget,” said Karen.

Off they went. The house where they had started and finished was close by in Sunnyvale. As they approached the house, Jolly began explaining. “The house is now on my route, one of the many things I enjoy about being a postman. The young couple who live here, Stan and Emma Carlsen, remind me so much of another young couple I used to know. I stop and talk to them from time to time. Bright, idealistic and in love. Sounds right, right?

“If you say so, Jolly. So, what are we doing here?”

“Let’s see if they are home,” he said.

They went to front door, knocked and Stan appeared at the door. “Well, surprise, Jolly, what are you doing here and who is this beautiful woman? Does Kali know about this?” Stan was laughing as Emma came to the door.

“Hi, Jolly, come in.”

“Stan and Emma, I would like to introduce you to Karen. Don’t know her last name, but she used to live in this house—with me.” Jolly was laughing too.

They were all laughing as Jolly and Karen walked in. There was still only room for two chairs in the living room, so the men knelt by the chairs as the women sat down and Jolly started talking.

Not long after, Jolly and Karen walked to the door. There were hugs all around and both Emma and Karen had tears in their eyes. The men wore big smiles.

Karen and Jolly got in the car and Karen said, “I remember how to get there too.”

They pulled into the parking lot of Branches, a high-end nursery. Finding a gardener, they explained what they wanted. “A purple Crepe Myrtle and a red dwarf Japanese Maple. We will pay for you to plant them, just put them on each side of the front yard. Here are the owners names and phone number; please give them a call and set up an appointment. Take this credit card for the Myrtle and this card for the Maple.

The transaction was completed and both of them, slightly teary eyed, got in car to return to the hotel. Karen pulled in front and stopped. “I don’t have to go in. I am going home and try to digest what we just did.”

They both got out of the car and walked to the front of the car where they faced each other and held hands. “Goodbye, Jolly.”

“Goodbye, Karen.”