From CARLY SIMON'S memoir BOYS IN THE TREES.
NOTES: Carly Simon decided it was time to meet the woman that her husband was keeping in an apartment she had never been to, one that he used for rehearsals. After walking the streets of New York City in the dark, stopping at 2 am at a Cuban restaurant, where the waiter tells her that JAMES TAYLOR and his Mistress also come in there. He advises her to Love her husband. She arrives at the building in the middle of the night. When she lets herself in with the key she secretly had copied, she hears a woman wailing and one of James' favorite pieces of music being played on a stereo from the 4th floor apartment. Before she can use the key again, the apartment door opens.
There stands Evey, who at first mesmerizes Carly with her beauty but also physical difference. Carly can't help put compare her hands and feet. The woman invites her inside. No doubt tipped off that his wife is on the way, this encounter which Carly is determined will be civilized, not a cat fight, proves that her husband has betrayed her beyond the physical. Evey is angry with her for James and ready to tell her off.
Seeing a razor blade, the notion of suicide passes through Carly's mind for a moment until she remembers she has the responsibility of her children. It is clear, after hearing all the lies that James has told against Carly, lies that Evey wholeheartedly believes, that the Mistress is not the problem. As I read this excerpt, I had to feel so sad for both women. Read by e-book in Overdrive, I've referenced the pages.
EXCERPT:
"She stood there, hair in her eyes, which were wide with what I interpreted as terror and angst. The woman before me, Evey, was tiny and muscular. She wore a black leotard, dance pants, and small "dance slippers - size four, I guessed. Her torso was beautifully molded and her hands were white, perfect, not a single mark on them, only a band on the fourth finger.... 1719-1720 e-book (Missy here: What hand? Is this a wedding type band from Jamie?)
EXCERPTS from 1721-1722-1723-1724 e-book :
"I'm trying hard here," I said.... "I want us to be the best we can both be."
"No you're not," she replied in her broken English. "Jamie doesn't love you. Don't you know that? He calls you a JAP - and he told me you buy big Mercedes Convertible, and drive around California trying to be a movie star, but you're not pretty enough." She continued in this vein, "Jamie had told her that I built a swimming pool because I couldn't bear to step on any seaweed or any rocks beneath my feet, where real people go swimming.
Jamie had also told her I disliked the feeling of sand and that if any got in the house, I would take a bottle of spray cleaner out from under the sink and spray out all the sand as if it was some dangerous fungus. Hmm... not a bad idea. ...
EXCERPTS 1725-1726 e-book
"He says you spend all day shopping and buying fur coats and that you are dressing up your children just like you. He tells me you nurse your little boy still and that he will grow up to be a fairy." Evey's voice rose, "And don't thick I don't know the difference between "fairy tale" and "Fairy."
EXCERPTS 1727-1728
"He says you don't really sing well and that you spend all day getting bikini waxes so you look good for all your rich boyfriends who spend planes for you all over the world...He says you won't even notice when he is out of the house because you're so in love with your diamonds and fancy shoes and you try them on in front of your mirror. You are a party girl. You are a bitch. A city girl, a lazy playgirl. What did he call you? Yes - a swashbuckler - that's it."
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