THE FRIENDS

By Ben Greenman

From forthcoming collection of stories, as yet untitled

They got together for a chat. They were recording it. Everything was recorded, and to pretend otherwise would have been naïve or worse. Sam started. It was Sam’s house where they met, partly because that’s where the quality of the recordings ended up sounding the best, something about the acoustics of the den, the kind of panels on the walls, the kind of carpet on the floor. “Let’s start,” Sam said. They were talking about a television show they all liked. That was the projected topic not only for that chat, but also for the seven chats of similar length that were scheduled to follow, one each week, over the course of the next two months. They would not discuss the same show they all liked, but different shows they all liked, one after the other. Sam had suggested the first show that they would discuss. It was a show about a supernatural high school that had aired when Sam was nineteen years old. Sam had not been a fan at first. The pilot had reeked of desperation. Sam had almost turned off the television. But the show had righted itself over the course of the first season, and the second season was considered by many to be one of the finest examples of the supernatural high school genre. Sam watched every episode religiously, which always seemed ironic, since the show itself was so heretical, featuring witches and demons. “Apostate is enough,” Sam said. The joke fell flat. Sam made a mental note to remove that from the chat before it was released. Sam was always thinking that way, and as such always divided between the demands of the moment and an awareness of the final destination of the discussion. The host had duties. That was a demand of the moment. “And what did you think of the pilot?” Sam said. Chris and Alex both started shaking their heads. “I didn’t like it,” Chris said. “But then again I didn’t like the entire show. I rarely watched it and have almost nothing to say about it.” Alex was nodding now. “Me too,” Alex said. “Couldn’t stand it.” In the silence that followed, Sam made another mental note, larger than the first, about what else would have to be removed from the chat before it was released, and wondered if there had been a drastic error in judgment, not about the show that had been selected for the chat, not even about the chat about the show that had been selected, but about Chris and Alex. Were they even her friends?