The Subjection of Women

She said she sort of missed him. "I adore him," she said. "I feel compassion for him because he's totally fucked up." It was getting dark outside, but nobody wanted to leave. They all wanted to stay, transfixed by the idea of a man like Tom Peri, but not Tom Peri. 4. Manhattan Wedlock: Never-Married Women, Toxic Bachelors Lunch the other day. Vicious gossip with a man I'd just met. We were discussing mutual friends, a couple. He knew the husband, I knew the wife. I'd never met the husband, and I hadn't seen the wife in years (except to run into her occasionally on the street), but as usual, I knew eveiything about the situation. "It's going to end badly," I said. "He was naive. A country mouse. He came in from Boston and he didn't know anything about her and she jumped at the opportunity. She'd already gone through so many guys in New York and she had a reputation. No guy in New York would have married her." I attacked my fried chicken, warming up to the subject. "Women in New York know. They know when they have to get married, and that's when they do it ...»