when chester married marlene he did not realize how many friends she had.
marlene insisted on inviting her many friends to dinner and to "evenings" and chester found the friends and their conversation confusing and incomprehensible.
he was particularly disenchanted with walter, an old friend of marlene's who appeared with excruciating regularity.
one evening, after having a drink too many, chester informed walter that nothing he, walter, said made any sense. chester followed this up with a choice of words that were quite outside the boundaries of polite and rational discourse.
this incident occasioned the sudden end of chester and marlene's marriage.
both obtained the services of competent lawyers. it was all very civilized. money was not an issue. marlene had large amounts of it and chester not so much, and neither was inclined to seek any from the other.
the townhouse which had been marlene's remained in her possession.
after this, their paths diverged sharply. chester took up with gina, a two-bit floozy who wasted no time dragging him to his doom. gina had a "former" boy friend named jerry whom she saw regularly and the pair conspired to murder chester. he did not have nearly the money or valuables they had thought, but as they were never caught, they felt they had not done too badly.
chester had had few friends and no standing in the community and after a desultory investigation by the local authorities assisted by the state police, the case was forgotten.
marlene married bradley, a wealthy man twenty-five years her senior. they had what all their friends considered a wonderful marriage. after his death, she continued to give her parties and "evenings". as her old friends died off, she contrived to find new ones to take their place. an evening at marlene's was always satisfying without being spectacular.
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