WOW.....what suspense.

Robert, isn't it amazing how are reflexes kick in when we need them most.

However, I couldn't decide what would have been more embarrassing.....walking in on her Mom in the bathroom....or being caught in the bedroom. I'm glad you didn't have to find out.

BTW...How long is the Sergio Leone film festival? I hope you can talk Karen into it....there is nothing like Clint mowing the bad guys down.

I forgot to add.....are Jews pack rats by nature?...you can find similar closets and cabinets in my house.

Robert, I held my breath while reading this... it's funny, sweet, and crazy all rolled into one! You're right, you are Ben Stiller in There's Something About Mary...I just have to ask...is this the first Karen has heard of what you were thinking and feeling that day?

Randi: Yes, this is the first Karen has heard of all this and she's, sigh of relief, laughing hugely.

"I am drawing a blank here. I have absolutely no idea what I'll do if the outfit is hanging there.

I'm sure psychologists have a term for this frame of mind, but I really don't want to know what it is. I'm sure it's some scary Latin phrase that Karen has kindly withheld from me."

Perhaps the phrase you're looking for is "I'll plotz!"

Pearl: Or in Latin: E Platzola Unum.

As long as it wasn't one of those Catholic School girls' uniforms I think we're on safe ground. In my defense, I never had a closet of my own, since I always shared a room with my sister, so the closet was packed, but always orderly, we couldn't have made it out of the house otherwise. I never heard any part of this story until now, twenty-nine years after the fact. I should say that my memories of clothing and Yeshiva of Flatbush all revolve around the need to be perfectly dressed, (no uniforms then or now I hear) and someone, I don't know who, kept score on repeats. One girl didn't repeat an outfit for the whole year. I think I was able to keep a two week rotation. There was a lot of pressure, but the outfit Robert was talking of was not my favorite. My favorite was a plaid dress.

Anything Karen wore was my favorite. As for the girls and their impressive and oppressive rotations, Karen was so pretty and modest that no male ever noticed. Which drove the girls with the endless outfits crazy. And those "rotation girls" well, let's just say that no matter how many outfits they had--and they had many--nothing really helped for nothingness was at the core.

I haven't had so much fun reading a story in years. It has all the best elements - romance, comedy, pathos and, even though we know how it all turned out in the end, suspense!

Karen, you must be absolutely loving these revelations. "Unbeknownst to her..." - and now all is beknownst!

The one thing I am curious is beknowing is at what point Robert told Karen that he had been in love with her since she was ten. Is this something one keeps secret until one is safely married, or does one admit to it earlier than that?

And I kind of wonder how often this sort of situation - falling for someone when very young and remaining fixated on that same person for a very long time - actually happens. It happened to me, although the lady in question was twelve (as was I) when I met her and despite the fact that I was fixated on her for over a decade there was no happy ending - she eventually got married to and had children with somebody else, and for that or perhaps other reasons (although I think that is a large portion of it) I have never been able to form a successful relationship with anybody since. I assume that other people do have experiences like this, but that most do not talk about them, or at least it is only people like Robert who do resolve them in a positive way who do talk about them.

We are sometimes told that the emotions of younger people are somehow more trivial or less intense or less important or less permanent than those of adults. This is not true of course.

Ah Flatbush and clothes. Clothes to me at Flatbush were like Math class was to Robert. And I'm a GUY. By the time I was going there, the boys were under the same fashion pressure. I always thought it was sick, but I still tried. Every year they would threaten to make us wear uniforms, and believe me, I prayed for them! I can't understand why they don't put the less fashion-crazed kids out of their misery and institute a uniform policy. Forgive my conspiracy theory, but could it have something to do with the fact that so many of the parents are in the garment industry?

Just de-lurking to let you know how much I am enjoying all of this, and how much I enjoyed the Hebrew Kid, read on pdf.

Abby

Michael: I didn't tell Karen how long I have been in love with her for quite some time. Probably a year. And that was for one simple reason. I didn't want to scare her away. I wanted her to see that my love was real and genuine and mature. If you think about it, I could be considered the world's most successful stalker--and that's kind of, ahem, uncomfortable. I am sorry that your first love did not work out. They rarely do. Look, young love, very young love, is usually pretty immature and not based on shared values, the things that count. In my case, what can I say, God was good to me. Karen was my Bashert--my soul mate. I hope you do find your soul mate and get to write about. Thanks so much for reading Seraphic Secret.

Jake: I won't venture into the deep and dangerous waters of fashion and Flatbush parents. There is pathology and then there is fashion pathology. All I know is that here in Los Angeles our children attend schools where the children wear uniforms and let me tell you--life is much healthier. For the kids and for the parents.

Talk about leaving us hanging. I am sure that I will have to check back several times today to make sure that you haven't posted more. I am certain you won't but I will be back anyway! :)

okay, Robert...you've got to tell us what happens next...Last time I felt this kind of suspense was 1967, waiting to see if Dr. Kimble would finally find the one-armed man!

You're making us all into Serapich Psycho's!!

Wonderful, wonderful blog.

(I wrote a really really long comment and my computer crashed just as I was about to hit post!)

An avid reader/lurker,
Sara S.

Abby: Always glad to welcome ex-lurkers. Also glad you enjoyed "The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden". I'd appreciate it if you'd post a five star comment on Amazon. Those peer reviews really help. I'm in the middle of "The Hebrew Kid and Wyatt Earp." It's even better. I hope.

Robert: The "I don't want her to think I am a stalker?" thoughts going through your mind are in the background in everything you have written so far, and are a big part of what makes your story so moving as they are feelings I know well too, so I was curious as to how you finally resolved that. You will presumably get to that at some point if I am patient. (However, as other people have commented, if you now told me that you were the screenwriter for both "There's Something About Mary" and "Meet the Parents" and you wrote them as catharsis, that would fit somehow).

The girl I fell for when I was 12 was actually a nice person: in retrospect I realise she was not anybody really remarkable, but she was someone I could have been friends with in a different context. And she was for most of the time aware that I had this long standing crush on her and I think she mostly felt a mixture of embarrassment and sympathy, without returning it in any way. And I have met people since who do qualify as remarkable, it was probably the best that nothing came of it. I just kind of wished that somebody had warned me when I was ten that you should be careful what you do with your heart even at that age, because you can hurt yourself. I suppose this is something we have to learn the hard way..

But the feeling that I was turning into a stalker (even if the stalking mostly existed inside my head) was something that I always worried about too. And I still have that problem: if I really like someone and attempt to show an interest I am eternally worried about whether the interest is unwelcome and whether I am overstepping what is appropriate.

My friend Jackie (who I have just realised through reading your archives also happens to be your friend Jackie) once gave me what I think is probably good advice: which is that if a woman genuinely wants you to leave her alone she will make it incontrovertibly clear. This is probably good advice.

Michael: I finally resolved it by acting appropriately (in public) and not living the life of a lunatic. I did go out on dates with other women so I did not completely shut myself off from the possibility of other relationships. The story of how I married Karen is, you must realize, unique, because I actually did end up getting the girl. It does not often happen. And I thank God every day that Karen chose to love me too. Hang in Michael. If it can happen for me, it can happen for anybody.