Chapter 3: the Tango: Maureen"
The performance space occupied a corner of the lot, and Marcella filmed it as she entered. The
makeshift stage was nearly but not quite, set up. There was a banner that had the same words as
the posters she had seen up in their area "Maureen Johnson in "Over the Moon" ONE NIGHT
ONLY Christmas Eve 11 pmon the lot. SAVE OUR HOMES."
There was a woman standing near the table where the sound board was. Her hair was neat, her
clothes too, well made, meant to make her look like a lawyer, which she was.
She cleared her throat. Joanne abruptly turned to face her, then kept her eyes on Marcella for a
long moment.
"Marcella?"
She smiled nervously
"Hi"
"I told her not to call you!"
Marcella shrugged helplessly. "That's Maureen. This is so typical of her. But can I help since
I'm here?"
Joanne very coolly told her "I've hired some one."
Marcella didn't think she'd been so effectively or clearly rebuffed ever. But that was fine with
her, considering the circumstances.
"Great. Well, nice to have met you, " she offered politely, then made her exit.
She was almost across the stage area when she heard "Wait!"
She stopped.
Joanne admitted, softly "But I've been waiting for him for three hours"
Her dark eyes...well, there was something more than the frustration with the equipment there.
Marcella simply went back to the table, dropped her bag.
"Maureen told you the digital delay isn't working?"
"Yeah. I think I know how to fix it, if it's the same problem as before."
Marcella bent down to the offending machine. She didn't know when Maureen had acquired her
sound equipment. Back before they had met, anyway, and it had been temperamental then. But
at least it was familiar.
"I need you to speak into the mic. Say anything," she told Joanne.
So Joanne leaned forward, hesitant, and said "Test one two three"
Marcella shuddered. She'd heard that particular phrase far too often, and it held very few
positive associations.
"Anything but that"
She met Joanne's eyes again, briefly, unsure what to say next. For the first time, it clicked, she
should have seen sooner. Joanne was miserable, and it had mostly to do with a certain beautiful
and charismatic performance artist.
"This is weird. Awkward." Joanne finally offered. "I mean, I'm freezing, annoyed, and on top of
everything, here I am with you. My girlfriend's ex"
Marcella hastened to correct her,
"Her ex? Nono, I'm not her ex. Well ex best friend, maybe. Ex production manager, definitely.
But we were never... I mean, didn't she tell you? You're the first...she's always been with guys
before. And hey, look at me" she raked her hand down the length of herself, "not exactly in
Maureen's league anyway, even if we both were lesbian, which we aren't, or rather, I'm not, ..
Maureen wasn't."
Marcella suddenly laughed. "Now I've managed to confuse even myself."
Joanne circled her waist with her arms.
"Oh," she said, pained.
"Hey, it's ok. Believe me I've known Maureen long enough to know being involved with her is
enough to drive anyone crazy."
Joanne stiffened. Damn. She'd just put the other woman on the defensive.
But gently, she said, "A friend of mine, former friend, really, used to date her. Benny, he... I
remember sitting with him one night, he was drunk, completely wasted. He kept talking about
how she was torturing him. Dangling him by the nose, mangling his heart. He left soon after
that..."
Joanne insisted "It's different with me,"
Marcella raised an eyebrow. Joanne was obviously denying, and Marcella thought she knew
how to get her to face up. Trouble was, it was personal and she didn't know Joanne that well.
But then she decided. It would be for the other woman's own good. "Really? She's never done
the whole pouty lip thing with you, she doesn't call you pookie?"
"Never," Joanne looked away and bit her lip.
"And I don't suppose then that you've ever had a moment of doubt, when she kisses you?"
Joanne seemed to slump in defeat. "It's spooky almost, what you know about her."
"Well when you live with someone for four years..."
"Did... I suppose all those men swooned as soon she walked into the room."
"Oh yes, every time. She has that effect. Should come with a warning label"
"And were there times when there would be more than one?"
Marcella blew out her breath through her teeth. She shot Joanne a sympathetic look
"I'm afraid so," She blushed slightly. "The walls in our apartment aren't very thick,.."
Joanne winced, and looked down at her feet.
"Look, it's true what you said, though. It is different with you. The way she talks about you, it's
more serious than I've ever seen her get about someone."
Joanne sighed.
"I wish I could believe it."
Marcella stopped what she was doing, until it occurred to her that she had known deep down,
what to say..
"Hey, have you ever taken dancing lessons?"
She rose. Joanne looked at her confused.
"Bear with me for a second. I was fifteen and my mom thought ballroom dancing would be
good for my "social skills" she called it. She made me go, actually, I hated it. It was at the
Scarsdale Jewish Community Center. I was paired with Nanette Himmelfarb, the Rabbi's
daughter. There weren't as many boys... I tried to get Roger to come with me, but there was no way. He was glad, he said, to do a lot of stuff for me, but a line had to be
drawn somewhere." Marcella didn't know why she was telling Joanne all this.
Joanne was a little amused in spite of herself. "Well mine is a bit different. I was roped in by the
daughter of a French ambassador at my boarding school, to be her practice partner...but I don't
see what that has to do..."
"They taught you the tango, right?"
"Yeah"
Well, I know it probably sounds really corny, but well if I think of Maureen, I think of that.
Slightly dark, passionate, maybe a bit wild. Or maybe she's like an especially dizzying
rollercoaster, who knows..."
Joanne nodded somberly.
"I think it applies equally, whether you are a friend or something else. It's not anyone's fault.
Maureen can be immature, unpredictable. She's self
absorbed. You can't count on her. You know that being involved with her will cost you.. But
well, the thing is, you can't help loving her anyway."
Joanne said, "I think that is just exactly right...you know, Marcella, that's good advice. Um, can
I give you some in return?"
"Sure."
In for a penny in for a pound, Mom would say...
"I just notice you're pretty down on yourself. You have no reason to be."
Marcella blinked. For the first time, she wondered who felt more sorry for whom. "I...I guess I
am...I.. Well, I'm the one with no luck when it comes to
relationships. Really, to the point where my last serious boyfriend was the boy who took me
to me to senior prom."
"Okay, that's pretty sad." Joanne acknowledged, her eyes sparkling teasingly.
"Yep."
Joanne went serious again.
"But what about this Roger guy?"
"Roger? The first time I met Roger, he dumped glue all in my hair."
Joanne gave the same confused frown again.
"We were six," Marcella explained, "His desk at
school was behind mine - alphabetical order, the teacher arranged us in, Cohen, then Davis. He
wasn't a very coordinated kid. Or at least, that's what he would
say if you asked him about it now, he probably never wants me to know that he did it on
purpose."
"You've known him a long time."
"He's more like my brother. I suppose that's the trouble, I mean, I can make friends with guys
easily enough, but somehow that's how it stays. Ah well, such is my pathetic life. Most people
get it right eventually. And if you don't, well, I can't see what's so bad about being on your own,
anyway."
She knelt down again and put the cover back on where she'd had to get at the loose wire.
"There. Now we can see if this works."
She looked up again. Joanne's eyes were far away.
"Try the mic again, Joanne?"
The lawyer sighed,
"My Maureen..."
Joanne's voice echoed perfectly around the performance space.
Marcella grinned. "Patched."
Joanne smiled back, gratefully.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Thank you for the talk. I think I needed it. I feel lighter. Much better."
Joanne replied ruefully , "I feel lousy."
Marcella winced in sympathy.
Odd, isn't it, I am just free of the storm, and she's right in the middle of it...
"But I'll figure things out, one way or another." Joanne added.
"I am sure you will. I should be going, my friends are waiting for me. Take care of yourself,
okay?"
"Yeah, all right. You too."
She snuck a glance back to see Joanne, distressed, going through the checklist that Maureen had
written. It occurred to her that she'd made a friend where she'd never expected to
find one. That one other person had provided enough experience for them to share. Marcella
smiled toherself. That's the Tango: Maureen...