Isn't It True

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Isn't It True

A week passed before Rachelle and Julie found themselves alone with each other again. Julie had sought out employment as a librarian, and Rachelle was working as a docent at the local Museum cum Art Gallery.

“How's it going in the Library?” Rachelle asked Julie.

“It's surprising how much work goes into it,” Julie replied. “Re-shelving is Sisyphean!”

Rachelle recalled the story of the Greek, sentenced to push a boulder up a hill, only to have it pushed off the top and rolled down to the bottom again. Sisyphus could never stop, as the job repeated over and over again, and yet he never accomplished anything. “So not restricting yourself to Seuss, then?” Rachelle teased. She was pleased that her friend was taking an interest in the classics.

Julie's eyes twinkled. “Reading Seuss to kindergarteners is Sisyphean too,” she giggled. “But we can't read in the Library. We have to check out the books just like any other patron. What about the Museum?”

“I could get more satisfaction from giving guided tours, if more tourists arrived to be guided,” she lamented. “There's practically NO foot traffic! We've got a really old Bible though.”

“I don't suppose you can read it during business hours, can you?” Julie teased. Then she turned on a prepared topic. “I looked up some lawyer speak, because your Dad's a lawyer, and I'm confused about the hostile witness thing.”

This sounded promising, and Rachelle was kicking herself for failing to return Julie's humor. “What about it, then?” she asked.

“Well, first you have to get permission. Then you can only ask yes or no questions. Then the Jury isn't allowed to ask their own questions, and finally, the witness never gets to ask any questions back. Isn't it true that's just unfair? Chad has all kinds of ways to try and be fair, and then he says that justice doesn't even have to BE fair.” Julie had been looking for a way to reply to Chad, and a way to socially engage Rachelle too. It wasn't very easy.

“I like that you used the phrase 'Isn't it true..'” Rachelle answered.

“Why? Isn't it?” Julie couldn't tell if Rachelle was being friendly, or toying with her.

“Well, if you think about it, you just can't answer that question with just 'Yes,' or 'No.' If you say 'Yes,' the Judge can say 'What do you mean? Do you meant that it IS true, or that it ISN'T true?”

“Well, what's true then?” asked Julie.

Rachelle was sufficiently astute to pause a moment and consider. “Julie: What's true is that there's more to you than meets the eye. I love you for it.”

She spent the next 20 mins teaching Julie how to use the question “Isn't it true,” in conjunction with the question, “What's true?” to pin down an elusive witness.

Having correctly divined that the subject of Julie's conversation was actually Chad, Rachelle then turned to discuss him directly. “So what's up with Dr. Busch?”

Julie was nonplussed. She had spent so much time thinking about the justice discussion in the car, and worrying about Chad being dosed, that she had completely ducked her real problem. However, the same dogged persistence that had impelled her to confess all to Jerry, now drove her to face the facts. She had not told Rachelle the truth with the ultimate goal of lying. She meant to confide in Rachelle. She was just glad that Rachelle had chosen to tell HER about “isn't it true/what's true,” and not Chad!

She mustered her thoughts, and replied, “If Chad isn't smart enough to catch me, then I just don't think I'll ever respect him enough,” she said. “But I think he deserves a LOT of respect! I don't even know if he wants to bare all, or hint around at it, and I don't want to make him get jealous and lose the relationship and leave. But on the other hand, I don't want to intimidate him, by asking him to compete, or belittle him by making him compare himself to someone with more physical experience either!”

Rachelle was impressed by the sheer depth of this sincerity. It was practically overwhelming. For once, she was herself reduced to referencing the truth for a reply. “That's about like a tidal wave of honesty, Julie. I'm pretty sure all I can do is try not to drown in it.”

Julie had regarded Rachelle as a benevolent superior by proven sophistication, and this candor reached her. “Well, I'm glad I'm not the ONLY one who doesn’t know the answer, then,” she intoned.

They sat in silence for a long time.

[Sequel at Triage for Love]