The Consumer Of Stories’s Reviews > The Undermining of Twyla and Frank > Status Update

I wasn’t going to risk what we had—what we have—for the slim possibility of something more. Because what we have is good, better than good. I kept my mouth shut, because I had you in my life, and I had you in my future, and that was enough for me. But then you started dating that continental toff in short-shorts and knee socks, and I realized, oh, wait, it isn’t that you don’t want anyone; it’s that you don’t want me

“Watching your children sleep is the Three Mothers’ reward to you for not killing them while they were awake.”

“You expect to come and go, in and out of my life, however you please, the same way you walk in and out my door. When you need me I’m here, and when you don’t, guess what? I’m still here. And you know it. And you take advantage of it. So you tell me, who’s the fucking chair in this relationship?”

“Woman, I couldn’t say no to you if I tried. And I have no intention of trying.”

“I’ve spent most of my life being useful, and when a person has been useful for as long as I have, they come to believe that useful is all they are. But then you came along and wanted to spend time with me, for my own sake. I know this won’t make a bit of sense to you, but thank you for helping me see that I don’t have to be a chair for all eternity.”