Breakfast at Manny's

As usual, very well written

I also love the nod to TAL. I think I recognize the episode you're referring to.

That said, this seemed like two (or maybe even three) partial ideas hammered together to make a story. (For the record, I got the same feeling from Sue Grafton's F is for Fugitive.) It didn't seem to flow as easily as I might have expected. Of course, that could have been the desired effect.

Still, a new FM story is a nice way to start a Friday.

Brilliant

Love your writing, please keep going.

Incomplete

Finish the story!

Wonderful

Nicely thought out.

a story about the glorification of being stuoud clueless shallwo and ignornat

In some ways I liked it. We have to here a guy who is so pathetically stupid.... so obtuse ...so unaware of his own existence and surroundings that he decides to propose to the woman of his dreams... While she is reading the editorial section?

um really? Imagine if she had said yes. Think about what their anniversary memories be like... " remember sear.. when you propose to me? I was reading the editorial section of the New York Times about how this person believed Sarah Palin was the next messiah..."

Not only does she turned him down... But she's actually FUCKING some other guy and he did not even know about that!?
YEAH this guy is brilliant and he is a real keeper ..... LOL.

Then he falls in love with this woman... And they both have the best sex of their lives each and every time they hook up... And they have no idea how to get in touch with each other?

Like I said this story is a glorification of stupid

a story about the glorification of being stupid clueless shallow and ignorant

In some ways I liked it. We have to here a guy who is so pathetically stupid.... so obtuse ...so unaware of his own existence and surroundings that he decides to propose to the woman of his dreams... While she is reading the editorial section?

um really? Imagine if she had said yes. Think about what their anniversary memories be like... " remember sear.. when you propose to me? I was reading the editorial section of the New York Times about how this person believed Sarah Palin was the next messiah..."

Not only does she turned him down... But she's actually FUCKING some other guy and he did not even know about that!?
YEAH this guy is brilliant and he is a real keeper ..... LOL.

Then he falls in love with this woman... And they both have the best sex of their lives each and every time they hook up... And they have no idea how to get in touch with each other?

Like I said this story is a glorification of stupid

re: Harryin VA

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings, too. Yeah, it's well done, but a well done story about a schmuck is still a story about a schmuck.

playing games cost him.

first girlfriend dumped him pretty hard..then finding love and never getting her name and address. thats life.. some good some bad.fraANCIS this was a good one with no resolution..

Brilliant!

What an well written, amusing story, starting with an interesting premise to a surprise conclusion. And, to top it off, the protagonist is punished in the end, when he finds himself once again alone and unhappy. That will teach him to eat granola!

What's your point, Harry??

Harry's absolutely right that this is a story about our guy being stupid. No doubt about it, but isn't that why it's a great story? If our author consistently wrote stories about clever people doing boring everyday shit, would you bother looking at his tales when they appear on Lit? Not me...

Good Read

Nicely structured and certainly leaves you up in the air wondering at the end· It reminds me of stories from the first 30 years of the last century. TU FM

nice premise - stupid main character

Well written story but jumping jehoshaphat the man was a twit.

A silly little tale

A story with no ending but a question mark. All in all a silly tale with a weak main character that causes most all his problems.

Better

Than the same old situations that are posted in this section 99% of the time. Wasn't that good a story but was a breath of fresh air at least.

Refreshingly original

and extremely believable. A well-written story about realistic characters.

The guy is clueless

Someone who grew up in nyc would not do what he did in the restaurant,just too risky.In some ways this reminded me of an O Henry story,with the twist at the end showing how futile life can be.Of course it does leave us wondering what happens.does our narrator jacob find deirdre,or was she found out by her hubby,called anon,who got the room in the plaza wired for hd video,streamed it to the net,sent copies to her family,sued jacob for alienation of affection,gave the wife to a street gang who gang banged her,making her lust for black guys,then sold her to a mexican brothel,from which she escaped,and found jacob at mannies,and though she had tatoos all over her body,showed signs of major wear and tear,but he doesn't notice and moves her in......

Nice writing,francis,but how about a ms sarah special?

Once again

I tip my hat to your ability to captivate a reader. Well done.

I've got you under "Favorites"

Because you rarely disappoint. I'm between appointments, so for the last half hour I have been reading a most delightful tale. Thanks. 5 Stars, of course.

I'd say getting punched by the wrong guy for the right reasons (he defintely deseved it for knowingly fucking a married woman) is a little bit of Karma coming back on him! Well done Francis! 5*

Different

But thoughtful. Enjoy your writing so wasn't put off by the ending, in fact, thought it was rather appropriate.

Anyway, back to your usual mini novella's - Please!

Thanks.

It sucks being him. Lol

Hmmmm

Have I told you I hate unfinished stories...

Would definitely like an ending :-)

Please!!

I keep reading one shitty boring story after another.

WTF?! This is 5th story I've read on this site that's either been boring or shitty--or worse ---both! I expected more from this author. The male character is a real fucking loser who lives in a fantasy world. His whore of a girlfriend dumped him for another guy--boo fucking hoo! Grow some balls & move on, instead he chooses to spend his time at a restaurant pretending to be someone he's not! He sleeps with a married whom he professes to love, but it's stupid as hell to fall in love with a whore & possibly risk the chance of marrying her & having her do what she did to her husband to you.. Just like his ex-girlfriend new man would be a moron to marry her knowing she can't be faithful--after all didn't her new man fuck her while she was living , fucking & sleeping with this loser that has way too much time on his hands where he can play make believe? Story blowed dude. You have it on loving wives but the male character isn't even married hell his whorish girlfriend dumped him.

Unfinished story?

Not so. If you think it's unfinished, then you've missed the point. It's done and well done! 5*s.

Nicely done.

Thanks for your efforts I enjoyed the story.

Cudos

Excellent irony, karma, Shakespearean duplicity, other big words. Very well written and attention-holding. As usual.

I refuse to give it a score until you complete the story.

I isn't finished. Yes, Bob does this sometimes, and we let him slide. You , however, write masterpieces...and this one is only partially complete. Finish it and I will grade it.

It isn't prudery

But I didn't particularly like the main character. After having lived the heartbreak of being blindsided by his girlfriend, it seems he learned nothing. Plus missing from the equation are the people who the customers WERE supposed to be meeting. What happened to them? How is it that the situation didn't explode multiple times.

This was a low key story built in a quality manner...but it's like eggs. I don't like eggs. This story didn't do much for me, though it's better than a lot of the 'my wife fucked the football team' crap we see.

Oops.

You got the tone perfectly for NPR. Low key, subdued and...dare I say? Dull. The redeeming feature of this was the light Dom/Sub sex scenes, something that NPR is not exactly known for.

However, I have faith that NPR could make sex dull too.

Piece of shit story!

Sadly, I only realized after I read this story that it was associated with NPR - liberal media. A complete waste of time. I'm sorry that I ever even looked at this lame story. YUCK! It's STUPID. It doesn't even resolve the story lines. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Satisfyingly delicious

One of your best.

Loved it

Wonderfully told, as usual. Those complaining that it is unfinished have obviously missed the point of this tale. It is perfect as is.

Suspended ending is great!

Gosh, you don't have to figure out an ending, you can throw it to the reader and never be accountable for the story. A great job, if you can get it. Sort of like NPR...always leave it hanging.

Too Much Intellectual Exercise, Not Enough Story !

Major league curveball thrown by popular author who by & large is 'a pleaser' in Saturday Evening Post- Reader's Digest tradition. The sex scenes were unconvincing like a housecat convinced of it's lionhood. No plucky, put upon leading character to shamelessly root for here.

FM is experimenting with narrators enemeshed with gray areas of morality. I'm utterly convinced he has little direct experience in this weeks territory which is problematic when writing in first person. Meow & yawn. Bravo for effort. Boo for credibility.

Decent

A tale not worthy of your talent, however. You turned the main character from an innocent victim to a cheating low-life. Too much thinking and not enough emotion.

what did expect?

getting involved with a married woman, playing child games with her, no wonder the first girlfriend left you.

Jacob is not a sympathetic character

This is a well-written story but I don't like Jacob, the main character/narrator. He personifies the joke: "How does a lawyer sleep?" "First, he lies on one side, then he lies on the other." Jacob seems to enjoy deceiving the people he meets at Manny's, not really caring about those he hurts. Just like the abused child who is likely to be an abuser when he/she grows up, Jacob treats others like his girlfriend treated him.

He deserved the punch to his jaw -- he knew the woman (pseudo-named Deirdre) was married, knew seducing her was even more wrong than what the guy, Megan's new boyfriend, did to him, but he did it anyway. He tried to break up a marital relationship. Well, actions have consequences, Jacob! He's lucky the husband didn't shoot him! And it turned out hubby had the wrong guy! But Jacob was so used to pretending, instead of being truthful, he got caught in a mess and still failed to get back with "Deirdre," or whomever she really was.

Maybe the author was portraying New Yorkers as cold, phony, uncaring loners who lack morals and who live in a dreamworld. Certain stereotypes exist because there are elements of truth to them, and having grown up in New York, I can identify those characteristics with little effort. Not to say there are not good people in NYC, but there are many in that city who fit Jacob's profile, unfortunately. Does Jacob have even one friend? It would seem not, and it is just a matter of time before he will need a shrink -- hopefully, this lost soul will find himself then.

njlauren is right!

FrancisM, please continue! Let one of these people go to MizSarah for advice and let the famous lawyer lift the veil about all this: who is Deirdre, why has she disappeared, why was Mr. Sizemore convinced to have found the lover of his wife?
Good written story with a unique plot!
5*

his woman cheated on him, so he cheated with another mans wife

how sick can you get

Wonderful little story

I guess we have to accept that some folk here weigh every tale through their personal value system - hence the rude and unwarranted commentary from the morals first crowd. That aside, this was a very well written, intriguing, unique and fast paced story.

I would like to read a sequel but I would prefer that the author leave us to wonder rather than produce an unworthy follow-up. Not that I think he would do that but I can't imagine how he could do this story justice. That's probably why he's writing and I'm reading!

Bill1104

Kind of pointles

Most times on loving wives, the author has a point, whether to write about the glories of a nymphomaniac wife who on a physical level needs constant sex and the husband, on a psychological level, needs to watch his wife have sex, , a cheating wife who deserves to be dumped, or the chronicles of marital melodrama full of pompous men, deranged women and stupid conclusions. This had none of that, but not really a point either. If it is a character study, then the character is sort of unlikable whose story doesn't engage me. The story is just there, like a boring article. A lot of people like it but must find the story interesting. I just found all kind of boring, stupid, and full of unlikable people.

Wow

A new take on unrequited love. Great story. Thank you so much.

Well written

But frustrating. It just seems like this story doesn't have a real ending.

This is like a cheap paperback pulp that one would find at a second-hand store; only that the last few pages are missing...

OK, here is the ending

Seven months later, I was in Manny's and in walked "Diedre". I took her to my place, fucked her all day, and she never left. We lived happily ever after.

tom anon

Miz Sara

would be absolutely disgusted with this "hero"!!!

OK he fell in love with a cheater -

The end - Oh wait -

Hmm what happened to our little Miss we never know for sure maybe hubby confronted her she rebelled and died right there - maybe not but she did not come back to him and he should be happy eventually.

She got bored enough to go looking for a stranger then found one and risked disease and assault to have her fun at her husband's expense and hers - now she is gone - be grateful - and watch how you play your damned game stupid.

Well written though and well though out thanks -

Good Read****

Weird but very entertaining read.

Oh maybe not the end. .

The chance meetings of people mistaken for others creates twists and tensions in . . . The Naked City