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

Chapter 2 Flynn’s Olde Boston Eating and Drinking Establishment MATTHEW’S TOTING a bag of groceries in each hand, those bags made of thin, improbably strong plastic. He carries groceries home successfully in these bags several times a week, but he always expects them to break. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack....

The Alley View Grill We really enjoy the Alley View Grill. Honest. We do. Whenever we get a late-night craving for goat-cheese pizza or a veal-and- pancetta burger with some tomato coulis , it’s almost the first place that comes to mind. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

HE HAS A DREAM in which he and Belinda are picnicking in a pretty spot, in a woods somewhere, their blanket spread out in a mossy glade, a brook flowing nearby, just the sort of idyllic spot one always hopes to find for a picnic. In the glade the sun is shining bright and strong, but woods and shadows surround them. Then, all at once, ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experi...

A WEEK AFTER Liz left, Matthew decided that he might as well go out and try his luck at finding solace between the legs of other women; at once the question arose, at first only hypothetically, whether he ought to use condoms. He was, at that time, afraid of getting herpes, but it seemed awfully timid to be afraid of herpes, and he didn’t want to admit to the fear. ... Get full access to The Perso...

WHEN THEY ARRIVE at Matthew’s, Belinda goes into the living room, and Matthew goes into the kitchen to fix himself a drink. Belinda rarely wants one after dinner. “Matthew, what on earth happened here?” she asks. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MATTHEW AND BELINDA leave the restaurant, walk to the end of the alley, and turn toward Matthew’s apartment, which is only two blocks away. Matthew says, “The most incredible thing happened when I was coming out of the men’s room. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     Matthew samples Belinda’s pork, the sauce, the aïoli (it is aïoli ), the vegetables, the rice. While they’re having coffee, he consolidates his mental notes as he sometimes does, by reciting to Belinda important judgments he hopes to include in BW’s review. This postprandial draft is a risky business. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter...

BELINDA RETURNS to the table, the waiter arrives with the drinks, and, in a moment, the redhead returns to her table. All this traffic in a small space occasions some confusion, jostling, stepping aside, shuffling of chairs, asking to be excused. The waiter stands to one side, holding his tray, aloof from the fray, frowning through a thin smile. Belinda seems upset. She’s trying to smile, but her...

WHEN BELINDA arrives in the ladies’ room, the redhead is standing at the sink, wiping her face with a wet paper towel, snarling at her reflection in the mirror and saying “B***h!” and “C**t!” Belinda scoots into a stall, locks the door, and pees as quietly as she can. . .. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subs...

SEATED at the table to Matthew’s left is a trio of young women. One is very young, a girl, still in her teens, delicate and lovely, dressed in a boxy black dress. She has pale, pale blond hair, almost white, long, smooth, and even, with a black velvet bow in it. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

BELINDA’S STUDYING her menu. Matthew’s giving the appearance of studying his, but actually he’s studying the room. Since every dish on the menu is, according to Boston Biweekly dogma, supposed to be an equally good representative of the quality of the food, what he orders is never terribly important to the review. It’s more important that he be aware of the context. ... Get full access to The Pers...

HE COULD HAVE said this: “When I was eleven or twelve, a rumor was spread about me, in school, that I never took a bath or a shower, never bathed. But rumor isn’t really the right word. Not everyone believes a rumor. Everyone believed this. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“YOUR TABLE is ready, sir,” says the wrestler. “Good. Fine. Good,” says Matthew. As they walk off he mutters to Belinda, “Is it just my imagination, or has sir become a sarcastic remark?” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THOUGH THE ROOM IS CROWDED with people who are all gesticulating animatedly, he doesn’t spill a drop in carrying the drinks to the outskirts of the crowd, where Belinda’s standing in front of an arrangement of enormous obscene flowers, bizarre-looking things with penile elements and great leaves shaped like escutcheons of pubic hair. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experie...

WHEN HE WAS YOUNG, Matthew developed an affection for the martini well before he ever drank one, an affection that came in part from watching William Powell and Myrna Loy down them in the Thin Man movies and in part from his careful study of Esquire , the text from which he hoped to learn sophistication. The martini seemed to be an essential item among the equipment of a sophisticated adult. ... G...

THE ALLEY VIEW GRILL is on an alley. This isn’t Matthew’s first visit; he has already been there for lunch, to look the place over. That’s his usual procedure: visit for lunch to get a general idea of the place and decide whether it’s worth reviewing. If it is, he makes a mental list of things to look for at dinner. No notes. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & O...

SNOW has begun to fall, a pretty sight in the warm yellow light that spills from Belinda’s windows. It’s a charming place, two floors of a town house on Marlborough Street, a very desirable location, very pretty in the snow, and it should seem inviting, yet Matthew hesitates before ringing the bell. Why? ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter L...

OUTSIDE, Matthew sees Robert and his friend walking ahead of him, still talking and waving their arms. A short, heavy woman in a green coat is walking toward them. She looks like a gumdrop. As she approaches them, Matthew sees that she’s saying something, almost shouting. They stop and put their hands on their hips; for a moment, they are a pantomime of homosexual umbrage. The gumdrop woman is rea...

IN THE LOBBY, one of his neighbors, a man of thirty-five or so, someone he knows only as Robert, is screaming at the girl behind the desk. (This girl is not a full-time professional concierge. She’s a student. In fact, she’s the prettiest of the girls who live down the hall from Matthew.) Robert’s dressed almost entirely in black, including a black fur coat and black-and-white patent-leather saddl...

IN THE HALL, when he presses the elevator button nothing happens. He’s not surprised. Among the “world-class luxury amenities” in the building are elevators that haven’t worked right for months. Every morning two representatives of the elevator manufacturer arrive, disable one of the elevators, and begin leafing through an enormous repair manual. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Advent...

MATTHEW ARRIVES HOME from work in a terrible mood. Christmas is coming, and it makes him nervous, even more nervous than it makes most people, because it’s the time of year when all his ideas are put to the test. He’s vice-president for new product development at Manning & Rafter Toys, where he is sometimes referred to, even to his face, as Vice-President for Sensible Toys. ... Get full access to...

MATTHEW never takes notes in a restaurant. That’s one of his cardinal rules: Never take notes. He’s worried that if he were seen taking notes he’d be identified as a reviewer, and it’s important to him that he not be identified. He’s also a little worried that if he were identified as a reviewer there would be some kind of scene, a row. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Expe...

I HADN’T FOUND Matthew, but I had developed a feeling for the kind of life he might be living there in Boston and I think that, as a result, I understood him better. Of course, there was still much more I wanted to know. I wanted to know how he spent his time, day to day, minute to minute. I would stand in my workroom looking out into the fog on the bay and ask myself, “What will become of him? Wh...

MY BODY-SURFING scare had reminded me of an episode in my childhood friendship with Matthew, one that I would much rather have forgotten. In the following days, he kept popping into my thoughts like an advertising jingle. Almost against my will, I found myself wondering about him, and then trying to construct a likely life for him, based on the boy I had known: a dour little fellow, pale and fretf...

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