More Incongruity

The couple sitting below the non-functioning A/C unit looks thin, athletic, intense. Both of them long distance runners perhaps. I sit down and begin to write in my journal not purposefully eavesdropping but I can't help but notice the awkward tension between them. It rises and falls over the course of a half hour or so.

I hear snippets of financial talk. Snippets of "I don't think we're ready to talk about that yet" talk. I hear bits of defensive talk about where the kids should be staying and the man says how Natalie will obviously be spending the night on occasion. He's young, maybe early 30s. He wears a long sleeved button down shirt and khakis. He wipes the sweat from his neck with the back of his hand. He looks at it and wipes the moisture on the seat of his pants just above where they meet the chair. I don't imagine the stagnant air helps them feel more at ease with the situation. The mood of the conversation moves smoothly from calm discussion to angry accusal to defensive back-pedaling.

The soundtrack to the end of their conversation as it falls apart and they get up to leave? Crosby, Stills and Nash:

Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you
And our la,la,la, la,la, la, la, la, la, la, la.....

I kind of hope they were too absorbed in their own pain to notice the song. I don't think they would have found humor in the incongruity.