Table for Two: Fictions

Tommy and Mary sit in their seats at Carnegie Hall, waiting for Isserlis, a famed cellist, to begin his performance. When Tommy and Mary, the parents of two children, decided to start going out more, Tommy took up classical music. Swayed by the exclusivity of becoming a Patron of Carnegie Hall, Tommy purchased two seats in the Virtuosos series. At the first performance, Tommy noticed that an old man next to him was recording the performance—small antennae protruded from the man’s coat sleeves. Tommy was incensed by this infringement of the rights of the artists, Carnegie Hall, and his fellow audience members. Mary finds Tommy insufferable when he feels morally justified.

Tommy becomes even more furious over time and decides to take action by lodging a complaint with an usher, LaToya. LaToya does not take Tommy seriously, but she calls the manager, Mr. Cornell, who promises to address the issue at intermission. At intermission, the old man, Arthur Fein, denies recording the show. A police officer arrives, and Tommy reveals the antennae in Mr. Fein’s sleeve—a recording device. Mr. Fein claims that he used to attend the series with his wife, who is now too ill to attend herself, so he is recording the performances for her to listen to afterward. Tommy is ashamed; Mr. Cornell reluctantly leads Mr. Fein to his office. Just before Mary leaves, the police officer approaches her with a memento for Tommy.

After turning Mr. Fein over to Mr. Cornell, Tommy becomes obsessed, eating less and sulking. Eventually, Tommy discovers that Mr. Fein walked home from Carnegie Hall that night, so he makes a detailed map of where Mr. Fein might live. Tommy starts going to random buildings in the vicinity with a manila envelope, claiming to have a delivery for Mr. Fein.

Tommy finds a doorman who admits that a Mr. Fein lives in the building, and learns that Mr. Fein lives alone. Tommy waits for Mr. Fein, who admits when confronted that his wife actually died one year prior. Mr. Fein invites an apologetic Tommy up to his apartment, where he explains that he and his wife attended the Virtuosos series for 13 years. Mrs. Fein was more invested in the music than Mr. Fein, so during his wife’s illness, he began recording the performances. After her death, he continued. Now, Mr. Fein has thrown out all his recordings; they helped him grieve, but he needs to move forward. Mr. Fein thanks Tommy for jolting him out of his routine.

Mr. Fein’s daughter, Meredith, enters and immediately yells at Tommy. Walking out with her, Tommy apologizes again, but Meredith curses Tommy: She will never forgive him, even if Mr. Fein does, and she hopes he feels terrible for the rest of his life about turning in her father.

Mary explains that she never met Meredith, but the curse has come true—Tommy cringes at the sight of Carnegie Hall or a cello. The irony, Mary points out, is that the memento the police officer gave her is the last recording Mr. Fein made. Mary revels in the beauty of an impromptu story Isserlis told on stage about Bach’s preludes. She cannot tell Tommy about it, as the night is too painful for him to remember, but she listens to the recording when she is alone.