Charlotte Unfolding - Story

Who do you talk to about life's problems?  That can be a difficult decision.  What happens if you start to share your private thoughts about your boyfriend with one of his best friends?  Charlotte is becoming tired of being quiet about her disappointments.  In Charlotte Unfolding, Charlotte begins to trust Bartholomew and share her disappointments about her relationship with Topping.  Should you share your private thoughts with your significant other's best friend?  This could lead to many unwanted scenarios.

Here is an excerpt from Charlotte Unfolding, to be published July 17, 2011 at The Book of Bartholomew:

“You sure you washed them enough?” asked Charlotte. “They can be pretty dirty inside all those bumps.”

“This is how my mom used to do it. It should work,” said Bartholomew with confidence.

“So you used to cook with your mom?”

“No, I never really did. Both my parents were really good cooks. They would buy fresh and organic vegetables and things from the farmers’ market and the co-op and they would cook really amazing meals. They were so tasty, but for some reason I didn't feel like I should cook with them. It kinda seemed like something they liked to do together – just the two of them.”

“Didn't they want to teach you to cook?”

“Yeah, they asked me all the time. But I just didn't want to do it. What they did was so delicious and magical. I didn't even want to know how it was done. That would have ruined the magic.”

Charlotte tossed the minced garlic in a large black cast-iron skillet to saute in some oil. Bartholomew kept piling more and more kale into the collandar.

“How much do you plan on eating?” asked Charlotte.

“Oh, it cooks down a lot,” said Bartholomew.

Charlotte removed a lid from a pot of soup she had made the day before and stirred it around with a big plastic spoon. She made the soup by chopping up vegetables and cooking them in a couple cans of tomato soup she bought at the grocery store. This was Charlotte's general method of cooking. She would purchase pre-made items at the store and then add a few of her own ingredients to make them better. “Charlotizing” food made her feel good about her cooking skills. Topping knew how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot dogs and a bowl of cereal but not much else. In exchange for Charlotte doing all the cooking, Topping would help set the table and clean up afterward – and always tell her he liked her cooking.

“He sure is quiet back there,” said Bartholomew about Topping who was in the bedroom working on a design for painting Bartholomew's car.

“Yeah, he wanted to finish it before you got here tonight but had a little more to do. He has a hard time finishing it, he doesn't know when to stop.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know. Topping is just so intense and such a perfectionist about stuff that he always sees something else he wants to change or correct.”

“Really?” Bartholomew said. “I always thought he was just winging along and having fun. I didn't know he was a perfectionist.”

Charlotte felt like sharing her thoughts about Topping with Bartholomew, but worried it would be inappropriate. But she felt she could trust Bartholomew.

“Yeah, well when he is at a party he is really enjoying himself. And when he is designing a paint job, he is really designing a paint job. He is very intense about what he is doing. Lately, I think because he hasn't had a job, he has been filling all of his time with projects. Did you know he designed the garden you want to plant?”