The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

Flynn’s Olde Boston Eating & Drinking Establishment Sometimes, when a bit of undigested mutton awakens us at night, we lie in the dark, musing. You know the sort of thing. What is the point of life? What has become of our old pals? Do any olde Bostonians ever go to Flynn’s? Recently, we decided that we had to know the answer to at least one of these questions, so ... Get full access to The Persona...

BY THE TIME Matthew has brought out cognac and liqueurs, he has the feeling that each of them has come to the independent conclusion that coming here was a bad idea, but none of them wants the evening to end on a wrong note, so they are all making a big effort to try to enjoy it. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substa...

THEY MAKE THEIR WAY outside in four styles of wobble; only Jack walks with certain steps. The fierce wind, funneled by buildings, makes them hug themselves. Cabs are waiting at the door, since Flynn’s is a perfect spot to find fares to downtown hotels. Jack steps up to the first one, opens the door, motions Effie and Richard in, and calls out to Belinda and Matthew, “Come on. We can all fit. Belin...

MATTHEW has had far, far too much to drink. The wise thing, as soon as Jack finishes his lobster, would be to say his good-nights, get into a cab with Belinda, and head for home, but he’s a drink or two beyond reason, and he seems to be having such fun, they all seem to be having such fun, they all seem so clever and talented, that Matthew doesn’t want the group to break up. He wants them to come...

     “And were you involved in the development after that?” asks Jack. “A little.” “A little!” Matthew is out of control. “She organized all the field testing. She really guided the development of the whole product. Don’t be so modest, Belinda.” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

RICHARD ASKS, “What do you do, Belinda?” Belinda says, “I work for Zizyph. Zizyph Software? It’s a computer software company.” She bursts out laughing. “Of course it’s a computer software company. That’s why it’s called Zizyph Software.” She laughs again and shrugs and looks at Matthew, and he realizes again how nervous she must be, meeting his pals. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Ad...

     Matthew raises an eyebrow, grins his half grin. “I told you, I have to save some things for the authorized biography. But get this. One of the other kids — You won’t believe this. He wired home for money on the spot, from this whorehouse, and spent the next four days there. At Irma’s. I swear to God. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter...

     At that time, Matthew wanted to be a theoretical physicist, but after a year in college he discovered that, although he probably understood physics better than all but a few thousand human beings, he would never enter the small circle of people who really understood, understood well enough to advance the science. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observati...

“WHAT’S NEW in toys, Matthew?” asks Jack. Matthew wonders why that question must always sound like a joke. He’s sure Jack isn’t trying to be funny, doesn’t mean to seem to be trivializing Matthew’s work. He couldn’t mean to do that. Matthew feels quite certain that Jack has as much respect for Matthew as he has for himself. He recognizes in Matthew someone who has made the same compromises he has,...

MATTHEW’S ATTENTION is drawn again to Grandma and the group of ten. They’re getting a little rowdy. He wonders how long they spent in the lounge. Grandma’s clutching a drink of some kind, with a napkin wrapped around the bottom of the glass. The others seem to be urging her to order a lobster regardless of the expense. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observat...

EFFIE GOES ON, getting worked up. She sounds just the way she used to sound twenty years ago, when at some point in any discussion she was sure to begin talking about injustice of whatever kind she currently found most outrageous. Outrage was always there, the way a grudge is always there for some people, an undercurrent to every other emotion, even happiness, even lust. ... Get full access to The...

     “Some of them just spend it. So what? It goes right back into the economy, doesn’t it? Some of them just stick it into the bank. So what? It’s available for loans. But some of them use it to start small businesses. Somebody in a ghetto where banks don’t want to open up starts a small bank. You know, on the scale of a check-cashing service, something like that. . . .” Get full access to The Pe...

“EFFIE,” says Matthew, so loudly that he surprises himself and everyone else; they all turn toward him suddenly. “Matthew!” says Effie, just as loudly as he did. “What’s happening with that woman who spent her rent money for tuition?” “Oh. Didi.” She looks at Jack and at Belinda and says, by way of explanation, “I’m defending a woman who was being evicted from a housing project because she hadn’t...

     “This is the whole concept,” says Jack. “Anderson’s does no national advertising. It’s all regional, and it’s all based on the idea that most people think they’d be happier someplace else. If we shoot here, in Flynn’s, you can be sure the place will be full of young beautiful types, . . .” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterl...

AT THE TABLE, they are greeted by a waitress who makes a show of bustling around, to establish right off the bat that she’s responsible for the feeding of dozens of people, not just this paltry sampling of humanity, and that she will not tolerate long periods of pondering and hesitation. A breezy “Hi, folks. Welcome to Flynn’s. All set for drinks here?” ... Get full access to The Personal History,...

THE SECTION of Flynn’s in which people eat, as opposed to the part in which they drink and wait, is huge and rambling. There are several rooms, added one by one as the restaurant has grown over the last two hundred something years, linked by passages that turn at unpredictable places and rise and fall wherever the growing Flynn’s burst through the wall of an adjoining building. ... Get full access...

THE LOUNGE is getting more and more crowded. Matthew is amazed at how dark it is here. Everything is dark — the wood, the upholstery, the lighting. Most restaurants aren’t this dark anymore, he thinks. Does it have something to do with historical authenticity? More likely, he seems to hear BW say, they are afraid that in bright light we would notice the authentic antique grime. ... Get full access...

THE CONVERSATION splits, as conversations in foursomes often do, and Matthew finds himself talking to Richard. He never has much to say to Richard. He asks about the children, because he thinks people who have children are flattered to be asked about them, since they’re investing their hopes in their kids, but then the thought strikes him that perhaps this isn’t really so. ... Get full access to T...

“ALL SET for drinks here?” It’s the cocktail waitress again. She wears a tight little satin skirt, and Matthew decides, after a quick review of his mental notes, that she has the most beautifully shaped bottom he’s seen in weeks. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “Matthew!” Effie calls when she sees him, as if she were at a high school picnic. “Hey, you look terrific. How’s the war-toy business?” This is one of their jokes; it’s the first thing she says when she sees him once a year or so. “Excellent!” he says. He’s ready for her. . .. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack...

THURSDAY EVENING, at eight o’clock, Matthew and Belinda are waiting in the lounge at Flynn’s. Matthew’s nervous. So is Belinda. She has never met any of the people she’s about to spend the evening with. In fact, she has never met any of Matthew’s friends; that is, she has never met anyone who is a friend of his alone, not a friend of Liz and Matthew, that former couple. ... Get full access to The...

     Effie. Ah, Effie. Effie may have been a terrible teacher by every objective measure, too full of pep for her own good, so eager to give what she knew that it spilled out of her as if through a burst dike, making her seem disorganized, confused, and ill prepared in front of a class, but Matthew and Jack decided that she was the best natural teacher of all of them, and since she was also pretty...

     He goes into the den to check the messages on his answering machine. The first is a nonmessage, or an antimessage: the machine’s go-ahead-and-talk whine, a silent hesitation at the other end of the line, the clunking of a handset hanging up, the dial tone, the whine again. Matthew surmises that this was the burglars calling to see if he was at home. ... Get full access to The Personal History...

     There is no concierge on duty when Matthew reaches his building. He sets the bags down, gets his key out, opens the door. A sign on the desk reads “Concierge on Break.” This sign appears several times a day, whenever a concierge abandons the post. To Matthew, it seems an invitation to burglars. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy...

     Matthew has been collecting the works of the Neat Graffitist for some time, memorizing them in the field and writing them down when he gets home. (He wouldn’t like to be seen copying them on the street.) His current theory is that the Graffitist is someone well educated who snapped at a period of high stress ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations o...