Every Shade of Black
Phoebe stood back from her latest painting, which she already hung it on the wall. It was a large canvas and unframed.
'What do you think?' Rachel hesitated before answering. It was better that Phoebe seemed to be a bit livelier, doing normal things. Her song writing had been normal, sort of, although extremely depressing. She didn't know quite what to say about this one though.
'Are you going to frame it?' Rachel asked, stalling for time.
'No.' Damn. Phoebe should explained why she wasn't going to frame it. Now Rachel was going to have to think of something else.
'Ah, why not?'
'I think any frame will spoil the lines of the work. I prefer the raw edges,' Phoebe said, and waited for Rachel's comment.
'It's very black,' Rachel said at last. That was true. Every square inch of canvas was covered in black paint.
'It's not all the same shade of black,' Phoebe said, as though Rachel's eyes needed checking.
'Oh.'
'See that bit?' she pointed, 'And that bit?' There were subtle differences. Black, extreme dark grey, and very very dark grey. These would be interesting in, say, a black skirt, but after all, you only saw a certain amount of black in a piece of clothing. This canvas was enormous, and it was really all too much.
'What is it meant to be?' Rachel asked.
'It's my view of human nature,' Phoebe said.
'Oh Phoebs,' Rachel said, 'That can't be right. I know that some people are rotten.' A certain taxi driver for one, although she associated with him a certain shade reminiscent of milk gone off. 'We're your friends, we've got human nature and we're not…' she waved her hands at the picture.
'Oh no, don't look at black in a negative way,' Phoebe said. 'It can be very comforting.'
'Huh?'
'It doesn't strain the eyes.' She stood back at the canvas. 'I like looking at this.'
'Oh.'
'Human nature is mysterious,' Phoebe said. 'Unknowable. You can't really tell what someone is going to do, what they're thinking or anything. You just think you know, but that's wrong.'
'Hmm,' Rachel said non committally. Just then, Joey walked in, looking for Rachel. He hadn't really wanted to come to Phoebe's. It wasn't that he was trying to avoid her exactly, but it was very disheartening when you spent time with a friend who wasn't seeming to cheer up no matter what. He'd even tried jokes and had received the most heartbreaking polite smiles in return. He tended to go away feeling bad himself.
'Hey, how you doin'?' he asked nervously.
'What do you think?' Phoebe asked. Joey frowned at the picture. He opened his mouth, shut it and then asked,
'Is it black coffee?' Phoebe sagged and threw herself in an arm chair.
'You hate it! You both hate it!'
'We don't,' Rachel rushed in, 'Black coffee is related to human nature, it's quite logical for Joey to say that.' Joey looked puzzled. He was totally lost. So was Rachel, having no idea where to go from here.
'Coffee and human nature?' Phoebe asked.
'Um, because everyone drinks coffee,' Rachel offered. 'They, er, bond over it.' She frowned at Joey to warn him off making any contributions. Her own were bad enough.
'Hmm,' Phoebe said.
'Anyway,' Rachel said, rushing in to prevent this unfortunate line of conversation from developing, or being analysed. 'This all reminds me that I don't know what I'm going to do this Valentine's day.' It was an extremely crude change of subject but Joey immediately followed through with,
'Oh you'll get a date in time.'
'I don't want a date thanks,' Rachel said, 'At least not yet. I'm going to be a bit more choosy about who I date. I don't want another taxi driver thanks.'
'That's right,' Phoebe said. 'I'm on my lonesome too, of course.'
'I've got a date,' Joey said brightly.
'We guessed,' Rachel said. 'I guess it's just me and you Phoebs.' Phoebe shrugged. Rachel realised that with one depressed friend, and everyone else she knew in couples it was going to be a problem. She could always spend the evening at home, being reminded of just what a freak she was, alone on Valentine's day… No way. 'You know what?' Rachel said, 'I'm going to take a trip. I'm going to go out of town on Valentine's day.' Then she wouldn't have to stay out of her friends' way because she'd be nowhere near them. She'd be too busy doing something else in another place on Valentine's day to give any of them a second thought. And when anyone asked her how her day was, she'd say… she'd say, "the weather in Florida was wonderful." Florida. 'I'm going to go to Florida.'
'Oh wow,' Joey said.
'Why don't you come with me?' Rachel asked Phoebe. To her great surprise, Phoebe said,
'Okay.'
'Good,' Rachel said, 'That's us all worked out.'
'Well great,' Joey said, 'Want to hang out in Central Perk now?'
