The Boston Vase

A Story by Abishai100

Amlan/Sheila live in a quaint Boston place and take in a 3rd tenant who challenges their sense of 'shared' distancing.

A vignette about shared living space, inspired loosely by A Streetcar Named Desire. Enjoy!

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A baseball-card store owner named Amlan Satan moved in with his new darling wife Sheila in a Boston residence one winter season and began to write in his journal about the special 'magic' of living in New England.

Amlan graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in Literature-and-Psychoanalysis and fell in love with Sheila who'd been a professor of linguistics (at Cornell). Now, Sheila's a huge fan of American baseball but didn't necessarily like collecting baseball-cards, which was Amlan Satan's 'specialty' and 'secret' hobby.

SHEILA: I've considered other 'types' of men but settled upon Satan (Amlan) for his wry intuition about American culture!

The two lovebirds took in a 3rd tenant in their Boston residence the following spring-season, a Boston College (Eagles) cheerleader named Vase who loved writing poetry and was looking for an affordable place to live while looking for work in Harvard Square. Sheila considered this new tenant Vase radical and dangerous, but she also treated her like a new girlfriend. Meanwhile, Vase was making strange movements towards Amlan Satan, which made Satan wonder if there's something 'deep' and undisclosed about Vase's secret 'fear' of living in close proximity with others who're different.

SATAN: Don't you dare break that vase, Vase!
VASE: Your 'darling' Sheila got it for your home from a museum, eh?
SATAN: No, it's from a novelty antique store, and she picked it herself!
VASE: It does seem a rather 'elegant' vase, no?
SATAN: Yeah, and it's like your name 'vase/Vase' and there's no worry!
VASE: I understand that, Satan, but maybe I like serving as an incendiary.
SATAN: Right now, you're serving as a troublemaker.
VASE: I could shatter this vase and stick a piece of it in your body!
SATAN: You're completely insane, Vase.
VASE: Maybe I'm just bored of living in New England.
SATAN: There's nothing wrong with Boston...or that vase, Vase!
VASE: I believe you...relax.
SATAN: I'm not a 'therapist' of the feminine condition, Vase.
VASE: I believe you...relax.
SATAN: Shouldn't you spend more time with Sheila (your girlfriend)?
VASE: I suppose that's true.
SATAN: Make it true.
VASE: What's so 'special' about sharing space anyways?
SATAN: You can train yourself not to break vases, Vase.
VASE: Oh, right, right, right.

Amlan Satan, Sheila, and Vase formed a highly unusual and unlikely 'residential trio' in Boston (New England). Satan warned Sheila, whom he eventually came to regard as his 'soul' mate, "Vase will break your vase...and our hearts, Sheila!" However, Sheila would assure him and re-assure him and continue to comfort him, even going so far as to get him special American totem Hollywood-fable comics which captured that 'strange magic' of living in America (Boston), New England, and learning how to share space...and dreams!