A Place at the Table
22
Independence
Meredith
THOSE DAYS AFTER the party were both hectic and relaxed. I made arrangements with my professors to complete the term from home. It wasn’t difficult, as I had finished reading the texts and had only a term paper and exams to complete. But in the midst of that, Liam was completing his final paper for Elenchus. And I learned so much.
Liam’s analysis of the labor issues at Covington Shoe Company was complex. Where he cited the issues brought forward by workers as the direct cause of the strike, his analysis delved into the tensions between classes and the perception that certain classes felt they were trapped and unable to advance. He mentioned Randy’s observation that ninety percent of the students at his high school were classed as Dexter, a number that far exceeded the national average. While nearly half the population is classed as Dexter, having such a high percentage in one location spoke of a culture in which money and heritage played too large a role. He even suggested the teachers at that high school should be reevaluated to determine if they are truly capable of participating in class assignment.
I discussed his analysis as he wrote the paper and we brainstormed other aspects of the problem. Then I typed it in triplicate from his handwritten copy. I was privileged to attend his presentation and was happy to see his parents, grandmother, Mr. Ferguson, and Randy Peters in attendance as well. He even challenged Elenchus, asking why there were no Dexters or Cognoscenti in the student body or on the faculty. He suggested the school was elitist, offering superior education to children of the wealthy and automatically classing them according to their parents’ wishes. It was interesting to watch students and adults alike shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. However, his academic counselor, Mr. Peoples, was ecstatic over the presentation.
It would be an interesting year at the University if Liam continued to challenge the notions of class division that were so ingrained in our society.
It was becoming very easy to kiss Liam goodnight. We frequently joined each other for events at the University, in the theater, or at the concert hall. I was comfortable holding his hand but concerned that we were progressing toward a relationship that would exclude others and inhibit his ability to grow as a Leader.
At the same time, I despaired that we were not progressing enough to suit my tastes. Each kiss made me desire the next. Sometimes, we spent ten minutes in the hall outside our rooms, kissing. It was all I could do to keep from inviting him into my chamber. I got in the habit of simply leaving the door between our studies open all the time, hoping he would open his.
And he did when we had work to do. But during those hours, he was a perfect gentleman and focused on the work at hand. Most of the time.
“What do you think of Tiffany Loveland?” he asked one day. I cringed. Tiffany Loveland was wonderful. She was bright and could challenge Liam on an intellectual level that was above mine. I didn’t think she was smarter than I, but my mode of working with Liam was more as support rather than as challenge.
“She’s beautiful,” I said simply.
“In a matter of beauty, I am more than satisfied with what I see before me now.” His look was so intense—so hungry—that I felt the heat rise in my face. I shook it off.
“She is also very intelligent and has a way of responding to your questions with more depth of understanding than most people. Have you shared your paper with her?” I asked.
“No. We’ve talked about it on the phone. I’ve asked her out this weekend.”
“I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time.”
“Meredith,” he said, “you have pointed out to me that we are too young for a permanent entanglement. Do you not know I struggle every day not to fall to my knees and ask you to marry me? I feel the same about entanglements when I meet with any other woman, including Tiffany. I find her interesting, challenging, and beautiful. But I would cancel our date in an instant if you disapproved.”
“I find resisting that entanglement to be very difficult,” I sighed. “I fear I’ve already stepped too deeply into your life ever to extract myself.”
“Well that, at least, will never happen. You have become my best friend, my confidante, and my most trusted ally. I have little one-on-one experience with women. It is only since meeting you that I’ve become more comfortable in their presence. But I always look forward to coming home to you.”
Our kiss that evening was more delicious than ever.
The week before Christmas, we moved from Buxton House to our apartments. From the moment we moved in, it seemed, the doors between our studies were seldom closed. There were family visits, of course. My parents wanted to see where I was living and my father wanted to cook for the combined families in Liam’s kitchen. With Liam’s parents in attendance as well as his grandmother, it was about the maximum number that would fit comfortably in his dining room.
He’d kept the antique dining set and a few other pieces in the living room, but most of the original furnishings had been donated to a second-hand store. We’d shopped carefully and I found out more about his taste for clean lines and open design with many decorative geometric patterns. He said the patterns led his eye in a kind of hypnotic way that allowed him to focus on only the problem before him.
Letters and phone calls had begun arriving at Buxton House before the holiday and I found it necessary to make a trip to the mansion two or three times a week to collect the correspondence and check the messages. Liam’s role in the strike settlement and his photograph in the newspaper caused people to notice him for the first time. The party had been attended by enough people to begin spreading gossip about the newest Leader to emerge in our community. The Cyning name linked him to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the state. Everyone wanted to become his ‘friend.’
“I’m not sure how to filter these requests,” I said. “Do you have any specific guidelines regarding what you would want to attend or with whom you would like to correspond?” He leaned back in his desk chair and clasped his hands behind his head.
“I suppose this is only an introduction to what will come,” he said. “I think I’ll invite us to dinner with Grandmother. She’s dealt with it far longer than we have.”
And so, we ended up in the rooms of the matriarch just two days after moving out of Buxton House. It was an informal and light dinner. I hoped the unique serving of French toast topped with savory shaved ham and cheese would be enough to satisfy Liam’s appetite.
“I thought they would wait until after the holiday to start with the requests but people move so much faster these days than in my youth,” Regina said. Erich also joined us but was content to quietly focus on his food rather than participate in the conversation.
“Some of them are worthy causes that I thought nothing about,” Liam said. “Others seem frivolous at best. A few look like legitimate requests to work with someone on a specific problem.”
“Party invitations, charitable events, and even date requests have come in,” I said. “Some are still months away.”
“You have only seen the beginning, I’m afraid,” Regina said. “It is one of the key reasons I wanted to get you and Meredith established as a team early on. There are a few guidelines I can offer, but the real test will be what interests you. First, a Leader must be incorruptible. If your ethics weren’t pristine, you would not have been classed as a Leader. So, the first filter is to determine which contacts are after nothing more than legitimizing their cause by association with you. No doubt, for example, there will be other labor-management disputes in which one side or the other wants to be allied with you. Now that the terms of the Covington Shoe Company agreement have been released, you will find people believing that you will either get a labor union more than it asks for or that you will lead the company into new areas of profitability.”
“I certainly can’t promise that! I was very lucky with Fergie and Randy. It could as easily have been a failure,” Liam said.
“Good. Don’t assume success in one instance guarantees success in another,” Regina said. “Now, charitable events are sent to you because you are from a wealthy family. You have funds of your own, but not the kind they are looking for. If you see a charity that particularly appeals to you, you need to bring it to the family to see if you can persuade us to join you in support. Otherwise, politely decline the invitation. I might say the same is true of party invitations. If it looks like fun and doesn’t have an implied endorsement of a person or organization, go if you want to. I suggest that you not go unaccompanied. The hostage situation at Covington Shoes was a spontaneous event that turned out well. There is no guarantee the next one will be so benign.”
“You think there is a real possibility that I would be kidnapped again?” Liam asked.
“Yes. Less now than when you were young and helpless. As an adult, you are more capable of defending yourself. But the temptation for criminals will still be high. Remember, any class might have a criminal element,” Regina said, dabbing her lips with a napkin. “As to the dates you are being offered, the temptation is on your part. Do you really want to connect with random women? I would suggest you limit dating to women you already know. That field will expand rapidly once you enter the University setting.”
We discussed the other kinds of correspondence and Regina impressed upon me the importance of my own ethics in dealing with them. Liam would depend on me to respond to people with the same standard of judgment he was using. It would be too easy to withhold information that I found unpleasant but would come back to bite me—or worse, Liam. I agreed.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s, Elizabeth Kendrick moved into her apartment, not far from where we lived. Liam immediately invited her out for a welcome to the University dinner date. He said it was fun and he believed Elizabeth would become a good friend in the future.
And then classes started and we were all too busy for any extraneous social activity. I’d had a few months to get used to the University experience. Liam came home in shock after his first day of attending lectures. It was not at all the learning environment he was used to.
Still, we found time to sit and relax together for a while in the evening or to study together if we had reading to do. I felt as at home in his apartment as in my own. He was very excited to share a dinner of fried chicken he made as a testament to his ability to feed himself. We were getting along well and I still cherished our few minutes of kissing before we went to our rooms.
Liam
I SAT AT MY DESK reading the assignment in the textbook, US History Since 1877. The rigid structure of the University, including showing up for lectures with a hundred other students, would take some getting used to. It was so different than the unstructured learning environment of Elenchus Scholé. I had attended three lecture classes, two labs, and a writing class and it was only Wednesday evening.
I glanced through the open door to where Meredith was working on correspondence. Seeing her in her space always set my mind at ease and let me set aside the stress of the University. She would separate out letters that had arrived for me into those she could reply to and those which required my personal attention.
I was thankful for the writing course I was taking. It was amazing how many letters I’d received since the party—and they were not all from guests. I received personal invitations to charitable events, requests to help with personal problems, and what I could only describe as love letters from women I’d never met. Meredith dealt with most things, simply asking me whether I would attend this or that event or if I was interested in a woman who had included her scantily-clad photo. What would I do without her? I’m just so thankful for Meredith.
We moved into our apartments two weeks after the party. Elenchus graduated me with honors after I presented my paper analyzing the Covington Shoe Company labor dispute and settlement. I found that I truly loved Elenchus and the learning environment I’d enjoyed for eight years. But it was disturbing to me that my education was elitist. I knew for a fact from my conversations with Randy and other laborers at the shoe factory that they were completely capable of engaging and learning in the same way I was. Mr. Sturdivant demonstrated some of the same techniques in relating to his contractors. There was no reason in my mind that Randy’s high school should turn out ninety percent Dexters. It made me a little angry.
With school over, I immediately began setting up my new home. Those first weeks before the New Year’s holiday were filled with enjoying independence and learning even better how Meredith and I would relate to each other. It was an exciting time. I could see a world of possibilities for us if we could maintain our good working relationship without entering a romantic relationship precipitously. I think we both had in mind that a romantic relationship was in the offing. I certainly enjoyed kissing her goodnight!
My phone rang and I picked it up automatically. If I let it ring, Meredith would pick it up and I didn’t think that was necessary at the moment. “This is Liam Cyning. How may I help you?”
“Liam, it’s Elizabeth. Can you believe the writing assignment Professor Harington gave us? It’s like she’s prying. I hate to write about something so personal. What are you doing?”
“Just now, I’m reading history. I figured I would get to the writing assignment later this evening. I agree, it is a very personal matter.” The assignment given was: ‘Describe the class you would want to be if you weren’t of the class you are now. Why does this class appeal to you? How do you think it differs from others’ perception of you? Expound.’
“I was hoping you could give me advice. Perhaps share a bit of what you are thinking.”
“Hmm. Who else is prying?” I chuckled.
“Oh, come, Liam. Surely you want to know more about me. We Leaders should know each other well if we are to consider each other as possible mates. We can’t say we have a lot of options.” Elizabeth sounded a bit pouty. I’d taken her out to welcome her the first weekend she moved to town, between Christmas and New Year’s. She was certainly beautiful and pleasant company, but I felt no spark between us. I felt none of the urgency she apparently felt.
“Elizabeth, you are so much more mature than I am. It’s proven that girls mature more quickly than boys and I am simply trying to find my way in a new and unfamiliar environment. It is way too early for me to consider a future that is so far away. I’m not really ready to consider us as possible future mates. There’s really no pressure to marry another Leader. At the University, we’ll encounter few people of whom our parents would not approve.”
“You don’t care for me.”
“That is not what I said. What would you do if we became involved this term and next term a perfect match showed up? My grandmother estimates there will be a dozen Leaders at the university next fall.”
“If I found a better match, it would be necessary to extract myself from our relationship.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if the relationship we had was to become friends? Wouldn’t we then be able to freely assess our possibilities without the urgency you are feeling now?”
“Liam, you ass. Do you know how much courage it took to call you and suggest something? And you respond in a perfectly reasonable way. It’s very frustrating for a girl. Yes. Of course, it would be better to become friends and see what happened next. I just…”
“It sounds like you have something else bothering you. What is it, Elizabeth?”
“Oh, it’s quite silly. I’ve just found that Carmen Ramirez will be arriving in the summer. We’ve met before and there is a bit of rivalry between us. Nothing serious, of course, just a feeling that anything one does, the other can do better. Perhaps you are under no pressure to find a Leader as a future mate, but my parents made no secret of the fact they expected me to find a Leader for my husband.”
I laughed and shook my head. “All the more reason we should not become attached. How devastating it would be if I found Carmen a better match and needed to extract myself from our relationship?”
“That’s awful!”
I supposed I would get a lot more of this kind of thing but I really had no plan to do more than casual dating for a long time. I was satisfied with my life right now and didn’t really want to rock the boat. The whole concept of finding a Leader as a mate smacked of the very elitism I’d just spoken against in my diatribe at Elenchus. Of course, I wanted to maintain a friendship with other Leaders, but saw no reason to tie myself down to one.
“I tell you what. In the interest of improving our friendship, why don’t we go out next weekend,” I suggested. “Maybe Saturday night. We can see if David would like to join us. I’ll see what is going on in town and make arrangements for a driver.”
“Next weekend? Not this weekend?”
“I’m sorry. I have plans for this weekend.”
“Redheaded plans?”
“Elizabeth. You’re prying.”
“I want you to know, Liam, that I only met her briefly, but I could tell I would become friends with Meredith.”
“I believe friendship with Meredith would be a requisite for any kind of friendship between us. Now, we had better both get studying. Right?”
“Right. Don’t put your essay off too long. It’s harder to write than you might think.”
“Goodnight, Elizabeth.”
“Goodnight, Liam.”
I sat, staring at the phone. In fact, I was not taking Meredith out this weekend. I would be busy with Tiffany Loveland. The more I’d gotten to know the stenographer, the more I liked her. She was a perfect example of profession being different than class. A stenographer might be assumed to be a Cognoscenti or even a Dexter. But Tiffany had a sharp and inquisitive mind. She took her job seriously but there was no question but what she was an Inquirer. In fact, the more I got to know her, the more I thought that if I were not a Leader, I would like to be an Inquirer myself. I set my history book aside and took out paper and pen.
“Have you completed your studies?” Meredith asked from the doorway between our apartments. “I thought I would make a cup of tea if you would care to join me.”
“Thank you, Meri. I think I’ve gone as far as I can this evening. Why not come over and make tea in my kitchen while I wash my dinner dishes. Last night, I forgot and they were quite disgusting this morning.”
“Yes. Learning to take care of things others have always done for you can be a challenge. You’re adapting well. I guess I am as well. When I was at school, I took all my meals in the cafeteria. I didn’t need to wash my own dishes. Of course, the story was very different at home. When I’ve managed to engage a housekeeper and part time cook, you’ll have a much richer understanding of the people who help you. Do you suppose Elizabeth is learning that as well?” Meredith asked.
“It’s hard to tell. I suppose you heard my side of that conversation. You know, she does have a maid living with her. I don’t know if that means she can’t take care of herself or if her maid is a personal assistant, like you. It seems her parents are already pressuring her to find a Leader as a mate.”
“I’m sure that will come clear as you get to know her better. I’m interviewing housekeeper candidates to come by our units three times a week. I thought Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be good times for her to be here.”
We went to the kitchen and Meredith brought a fresh batch of cookies. She prepared a kettle on the stove and a teapot while I washed my dishes. I didn’t dirty a lot of dishes when cooking. I felt I was progressing well and getting the hang of cleaning up after myself.
“I heard you ask Elizabeth out.”
“Yes. I need to give David a call and see if he will join us. He might have some ideas about what to do or who should join us. Elizabeth unexpectedly commented she thought you might become friends.”
“That’s likely, as long as she doesn’t become too class-conscious. I believe her type of leadership is very different from yours. I understand she’s studying fashion design. She’s struggling as much as you are with the new environment and the world she’s been thrown into. She was at an all-girls school until just four weeks ago.”
“That explains a lot, I suppose. I’m still struggling with the concept of dating. I’d rather just go out with friends.”
“You don’t seem to have much difficulty with Tiffany.”
“Um… I… Uh… She’s fun to be with. That’s all.”
“That is important. I think you are fun to be with. It is a basis for our friendship. If I found you boring, you would never find my door open.” She poured water over the tea and took it and the cookies to the sitting room. I finished the last of the dishes and dried my hands before joining her. I sat on the loveseat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders as she leaned into me. It was so perfectly comfortable that I was tempted to just forget about ever dating anyone else.
“Am I always going to discuss my relationships with you? It seems so… callous.”
“I hope you will. I want to be a part of all of you. I don’t want you ever to think you need to hide your feelings or actions from me. But at this stage of our lives, it is important to develop a range of friendships with both men and women. If nothing else, it will keep us from becoming bored with each other.”
“I have such a long way to go.” I pulled her to me to kiss. She gave herself to the gesture and we both breathed deeply when we parted. Meredith poured the tea. “One thing I said to Elizabeth this evening is very important to me. And it comes from what you have told me. I don’t want any difficult entanglements right now. I expect you to be with me all my life. While the idea of doing more than kissing gives me a frisson of excitement, I am in no rush to do more than casual dating. I’m only eighteen.”
“And I will be twenty-one in the spring. Me, Peggy Anne, Karen, Hana, Elizabeth, Tiffany. You have only dated women who are older than you. You need to keep an eye out for one who is younger.”
“I’m sure we will meet others in our classes. I promise not to look upon it as an unpleasant chore.”
We laughed and sipped our tea and held hands as the loveseat rocked gently back and forth. I thought of all we’d discussed and looked hard at my feelings and desires.
“Meri, let us make a pact.”
“What?” She looked at me skeptically with one eyebrow raised.
“Only this. I have told you that I love you. I stand behind those words. Therefore, I promise to always consider our relationship when making decisions about others. I know that this time of exploration might reveal unexpected paths for us—perhaps unexpected relationships. But I never want to disrespect you or to hurt you through my thoughtlessness. If you find me acting in such a way, please call me to account for my actions. I need you for that as much as for any of your duties as my personal assistant.”
“Liam, I have grown to love you. I agree to considering our relationship when making decisions about others. If you find yourself in doubt because of my actions, please talk to me and let’s resolve our differences. I’m sure there will be times when those differences rise between us. Beyond that, I will restrain my expectations and ask you to as well.”
“Agreed,” I said. They weren’t wedding vows, but they were certainly kissing vows. I bent to her and she sealed her promise to my lips.
The End
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