Personally, I had never heard of the man before about two years ago, when my friend Sherry happened to mention that an old school chum called her, long distance,and was all a-bubble,talking about how this rich, internationally famous, musician, showman, and orchestra leader had made her acquaintance,and was seeing her. She was happy for her friend, but the more Sherry told me about it, the less inclined I was to believe the story. From the very beginning, Sherry couldn't quite pin her chum down on where,and how they met. So, I did what anybody would do, I googled the man. Sure enough, he has a huge, colorful website,with clips of his musical concerts,and pictures of himself (too cute!), his castle, and a very informative bio, which includes the role HIS WIFE plays in his career!
Well,knowing that this woman lives in some backwater town in Wisconsin,is disabled,and sort of lost out in the looks department, has only two friends,and uses public transportation to get to and from work, I doubted that she moved in the same circles as a man of this stature,and was probably making the whole thing up, much in the way l0nely young teen-agers will fabricate boyfriends, just to impress her friends and try to fit in. But, I bit my tongue,and didn't express my opinion, because, after all , I couldn't find any proof, for or against this woman's story,but it did seem rather strange that even though as the months went by she told Sherry of being taken on his jet to Canada,and New York, and all over the world,to be wined and dinned,and included in lavish parties and to be present at his concerts he footed the bill for her elegant clothes and visits to beauty salons, for hair do's and make up, none of the fans chat rooms ever had a word to say about any mysterious woman that he was suddenly,seemingly being seen with,unless he was smuggling her into concerts backstage swathed in fur coats and sunglasses, seated surreptitiously in reserved balcony seating, and then hustled out the door before the last number! In which case she must have gotten real tired of languishing in the limo for an hour or so while the after-the-concert- meet and greet was going on! In all my reading up on this man, only once was there even a breath of impropriety, that being a fan mentioned that he had a girlfriend from Germany...which was instantly Pooh-pooed by his staunchly loyal fans.
Meanwhile, Sherry's friend is playing ring-around- the- rosie with phone calls that occurred in the middle of the night, with requests like, "He's taking me to New York tomorrow,and I don't know how to dress, or how to act,Help me!" And with the patience of Job, Sherry would stay up, dead tired, and explain how a cultured lady comports herself when in a high-class hotel,or confronted with a full-service meal,and ended quickly when she said, Oh, he's here now, I have to go! Apparently, he flew back to the states every night after every concert, just to see her. Yeah. From all over the world, he was able to fly to her side every night.Now, I know that jets are fast and all, but you can't fly home from the other side of the world in 2 or 3 hours. The time just didn't add up. Plus, all those times she would say, he's here, Sherry never heard a door slam, or another voice. Even after being told, Oh, Andre says hello..Sherry never heard his voice, because, oh he doesn't want to talk, he is so shy,you know. Balderdash! As outgoing a man as I saw in those clips, who entertains literally thousands of people every week, is not too shy to pick up the phone and say hi to a total stranger!
And now, it turns out that Sherry's friend...we will call her Chris,has been diagnosed with cancer...again. She beat it once, but since then she has retired from her job,and doesn't have the resources to pay for all the medical bills,and so must wait for the expensive treatments that she needs. It seems that Andre has offered to pay the bills, but Chris won't hear of it; it's too much to ask of him, even though she says they are in love,and had a private wedding ceremony at his castle in Scotland or someplace,because his wife won't give him a divorce. The story just keeps building and building, and makes no sense altogether, it has holes in it that you could drive a Buick through.
So finally, a couple of nights ago, Sherry and I talked on the phone for rather a long time, and we hashed the whole story out again, and figuring I had quite enough bite marks on my tongue,I brought out the fact that when someone walks in the room,and talks to me, she certainly can hear them, and vice-versa on her end. That a showman of his stature wouldn't have any problem speaking to her directly, that unless he is superman, or has some sort of supersonic jet noone has ever heard of before, should be detained overnight at least from some of those far flung concert sites,and if he's so blessed rich, and loves her so much, then he should be footing the bill for those life-saving treatments she so desperately needs. In short, I said, Sherry, wake up! This woman who calls you every night, robs you of your sleep and causes you such stress, is using you as some sort of sudo-shrink, on call, 24 hours a day, 8 days a week! It's not right,and it's not fair. You didn't take her to raise, and since she obviously can't be honest with you, cut her loose! And as I laid it out, point by point, Sherry began to say things like, You know, you're right. And at long last, her eyes were opened to what this so called friend had been doing to her,and she dug out of her desk drawer some letters, some her friend has written to her,and some, supposedly from the too- shy-to-talk-on the-phone Showman,Andre,and what do you know? Chris and Andre's handwritings are the same!
I suppose that Sherry is just too sweet and too nice to confront her pal with what she now knows directly. She will probably just let their friendship drift apart by being too busy. Chris is, after all, ill, and it could be terminal, and that is a shame, and something I wouldn't wish on anybody, even if they are given to make up stories to get attention.
But on the other hand, how I would like to be a little fly on the wall sometime when she calls,and Sherry is in just the right mood to not back up an inch, but give it to her with both barrels.
OUI?
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