Her Friend Forgot to Hang Up After Their Call, and Sophie Learned Surprising Truths About Her Own Family

After I heard this story from my friend, the way I looked at people changed completely, just as it did for my husband. We started spending less time with our friends and told them much less about our lives. No, we didnt stop trusting them entirely, and were still on good terms, but we dont let anyone too close, not into the folds of our private world. And it all stemmed from a rather uncomfortable episode that happened to my friend and her husband.

Theyd had close friends for ages. The husbands even worked in the same office, and the women had studied together at university. Later, my friends pal got married and had a baby the following year. She introduced her friend to a workmate of her husbands, and soon the two started seeing each other.

But things shifted when her friends husband quit his job and found something more lucrative. She, too, landed a better-paid position. The couples began drifting apart, their conversations became rare. My friend was frequently illchildren just kept coming along, and she hopped from sick leave to sick leave until the bosses lost patience and dismissed her on some flimsy excuse.

Her husband took up the slackworking tirelessly so his wife and their four children could live comfortably. They did all right, really. Bought themselves a big house, kept the household ticking over. Gradually their finances evened out, but they never became especially well-off.

The other couple, by contrast, remained childless, climbing career ladders, holidaying often, living entirely as they fancied.

One day, the couple with children decided to invite their old friends to their cottage in the countrysidesurely, itd be the perfect way to escape Londons racket. Grilling on the patio, swimming in the river, rambling through the woods, and the weather was glorious. My friend phoned her mate, full of excitement, and extended the invitation. Her mate was delighted but said shed need to check with her husband and call back. She set her mobile on the table but didnt hang up.

And thats when my friend heard things she could never have imagined. The other couple thought of her and her family as complete idiots, apparently clueless about life. With four kids, they must be scraping by every month, just about keeping the lights on. Their house, according to the friends, was a wreckembarrassingly shabby. The children, apparently, unruly and ill-mannered, and really, why bother having so many? They shouldve sent half to an orphanage! The wife, apparently, was a dullard who spoke of nothing but her children.

Her husband? A boorish oaf, impossible to converse with. And then, the call cut out. The couple whod heard all this sat there shell-shocked. At first, they wanted to storm over to their so-called friends and say everything that had been stewing inside them. But just then, the phone rangit was the friends husband, chipper as ever, saying theyd pop in for the weekend, and the childrens father replied, Wonderful, see you then, before hanging up.

That night, they discussed at length what had happened and finally decided to wait for their guests to arrive and play along.

The weekend came, and the friends turned up with a couple of jars of cheap jam and equally inexpensive chocolates for the kids. The husband immediately piped up:

Blimey, you must be on a paltry wage if this is all you can manage to bring! Well, never mindour tables overflowing, so tuck in. Eat up, and then you can lend a hand; theres plenty to be done.

The hosts just sat there, dumbfounded, not quite understanding if this was all a joke. Then the wife chimed in:

And why havent you had any children yet?

Were in no rush, theres still time, replied the other woman, a little awkwardly.

Oh, I get it. Only uncouth types have children; clever people live for themselves, the wife declared.

At this, the visiting couple were left speechless. Clearly, the hosts knew everything, but there was no telling how theyd found out. So, the visitors made up some excuse and slipped away as quickly as possible.

What do you make of this whole scenario? Did the couple act as they should have? Ought they to have been kinder to their guests, or a little more forthright? What would you have done?