"You said she seems like a stranger. Maybe she is a stranger, Tal.
Maybe the _you_ who went away would be a stranger to you, too. You said
Timmy changed. You could have changed, too. You could have grown up
in ways you don't realize. Maybe the Charlotte who was ample for that
other Tal Howard just isn't enough of a challenge to this one."
"So I break her heart."
"Maybe better to break her heart this way than marry her and break it
slowly and more thoroughly. I can explain better by talking about Timmy
and me."
"I don't understand."
"When Timmy lost interest the blow was less than I thought it would
be. I didn't know why. Now after all this time I know why. Timmy was
a less complicated person than I am. His interests were narrower. He
lived more on a physical level than I do. Things stir me. I'm more
imaginative than he was. Just as you are more imaginative than he
was. Suppose I'd married him. It would have been fine for a time. But
inevitably I would have begun to feel stifled. Now don't get the idea
that I'm sort of a female long-hair. But I do like books and I do like
good talk and I do like all manner of things. And Timmy, with his
beer and bowling and sports page attitude, wouldn't have been able to
share. So I would have begun to feel like sticking pins in him. Do you
understand?"
"Maybe not. I'm the beer, bowling, and sports page type myself."