Barely containing herself, Eva sneaked a look at the sink. There were dishes piled up like a tottering mountain. Marnie must have seen them but maybe she was overlooking such a disgrace in her new friend.

That was the beginning of an unusual friendship of sorts. Every few weeks Marnie would call in and talk and talk. Eva came to know her life, her every thought, all the mundane details of the products she bought, the food they ate, more hilarious stories of her intimate life with her husband. Eva hardly ever contributed to the conversation. In fact she often thought if she went out and left her ears on the table Marnie would be just as happy.

Over the course of many visits it came out that Marnie had measles as a child and as a result her eyesight had been affected, hence the thick glasses. The bouffant hairdo was purpose built to hide the missing bone in her forehead, a deep recession with hair combed into a stiff curl to hide it. That was from a serious sinus problem and the piece of bone was removed to relieve the pressure. Doctors at the time thought putting a steel plate in to replace it was too dangerous.

However, if there are reasons for every contact we have with other people, the reason for her meeting Marnie became clear to Eva after a while. When Eva was overcome with severe depression as her relationship with Rod eroded, waking to think, “Oh god, I’m still alive.” Wishing her life away and thinking of ways to commit suicide so that it didn’t look like suicide, sitting still and trying to will herself to die. Then Marnie would visit and chatter about whether to serve Keith fish fingers or sausages for dinner, spill some more secrets of her sex life, never noticing Eva looked miserable. And Eva would laugh inside despite herself and feel some sort of comfort to know there were people who had never for a minute considered ending their lives, whose biggest problem was deciding which detergent worked best. As Marnie chattered on, Eva imagined scenarios where she burst out, “Marnie, I’m working out a way to kill myself.” She knew that was cruel because Marnie wasn’t equipped to deal with a statement like that. She would probably suggest changing her dinner menu or washing powder as the solution.

At times like these, after Marnie left Eva would feel better. As if Marnie were her contact with a different world where everything was accounted for and your biggest feeling of satisfaction came from sparkling clean dishes. She needed to know there was a world like that even if it wasn’t the one she was living in. In some ways she grasped at Marnie and her trivialities as straws to keep her sane.

As it turned out there was more to Marnie than Eva guessed. Passing by her street one day on her way to the library she noticed a truck parked outside Marnie’s house. On her way back an hour later she noticed it still parked there. Marnie didn’t visit for a long time and when Eva went to the deli Marnie wasn’t there. She asked the girl behind the counter.

“Oh Marnie, no, she left. She ran off with the Canada Dry soft drink man. They went to the UK to start a soft drink business together.”

Eva laughed inside. Oh you never really know anyone do you. And she didn’t even say goodbye.