‘The Flatted Saxophone’ by John O’Hara

The Flatted Saxophone by John O’Hara, 1963

The magic trick:

A casual conversation that turns intense suddenly (for the reader, at least)

The central metaphor here – the notion that a tenor saxophone doesn’t sound so rich outdoors in the real world – didn’t do much for me. But never fear, it’s another excellent conversation-based story from O’Hara. The situation here is simple: two old friends talking during a wedding reception. The way their conversation turns from recognizably friendly and casual to admissions of deep unhappiness will shock you. What’s more, you’ll soon see that the conversation shift didn’t affect the characters as much as it affected you. Their deep unhappiness is part and parcel of their casual, friendly existence. And that’s quite a trick on O’Hara’s part.

The selection:

“No. Well, the weddings we went to and were in, including our own. Those years there were a lot of big weddings. And lately, the last few years, our children’s weddings and our friends’ children. An average of five a year, do you think?”

“Times forty. Two hundred. It somehow seems more than that,” he said.

“But I don’t think you and I have been to two hundred of the same weddings, have we? Maybe we have,” she said.

“Pretty close to it,” he said. “And the funny thing is, we nearly always sit together, at least for a little while. Did you come alone?”

“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t go to the church. Did you? I suppose you did.”

“Try and keep Marjorie from missing any part of it. Yes, we were there. Marjorie burning up because we didn’t have any special pew to go to. To think that Ann Bartholomew, her own second cousin, didn’t have us sitting with family. Well, maybe Marjorie has a point. There were plenty of people there I never saw before.”

“Weren’t there? I mean, aren’t there? Looking around here I don’t know half the people our age,” she said.

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