alan and arlene

alan's friends invited him to a party where they would be hosting a private performance by a small group of classical musicians. as alan was quite fond of both classical music and these particular friends, he agreed to attend. arlene played clarinet in the ensemble. alan didn't know that her name was arlene on this night; he didn't know anything about her, because he had never seen her before, but he noticed her immediately, and as the performance progressed alan decided that, while all of the musicians were quite talented, she was really the star of the bunch. at some point in the program the group played a mozart quartet, and by the end of it alan was desperately in love with arlene, or, as he knew her, the girl with the clarinet.

but alan was shy, and he and arlene did not speak to one another that day.

maybe alan asked his friends about arlene, or maybe she asked about him. maybe no one said anything to anyone but a few weeks later alan and arlene were sitting across from each other at a dinner party. the hostess had baked a rum cake and placed it on top of her refrigerator, which was a 1950s model, rounded on top and prone to fits of violent tremors during its cooling cycle. over the course of the evening the refrigerator rattled the rum cake closer and closer down the sloping top towards the edge until, from the other room, the guests heard a thud with a slight ringing undertone. the hostess rolled and then closed her eyes, rose from her chair and went into the other room to confirm what she already knew, which, as she informed the others upon her return, was that dessert was now being served on the kitchen floor, and, as it had broken the plate's fall, it was even glass-free. alan and arlene picked up their forks and headed into the kitchen. they sat down on opposite sides of the cake, looked at each other, realized that nobody else was coming in from the other room, and dug in.