The door slammed shut. Hard.

I heard the sound of it opening, and then, slamming shut hard, again. A moment later, a third and resounding 'bang' was heard as the front window was closed as well. "My goodness, I thought,what can be going on here?" One doorbell answered, 3 loud angry bangs. Silence. In the silence of the kitchen doorway, my friend re-appeared. To say she was 'fuming' would be an understatement. Her face was red, her fists were clenched. Before I could speak she said "I'm so mad I could spit". O.K. Better just let her talk and tell in her own way and her own time. I took a sip of my tea and waited.

Little by little it came tumbling out. A close friendship between two, she being one of the two. Another close friendship between the other and a third friend. Oh, oh...I think I can see where this is going. One of the hardest things I've encounted over the years. Friendship between 3 individuals...quilters or playmates..a hard combination to piece together. The friendship is never quite equally divided into 33.3% each. A combination of either two seems to get along better than either paired with the 3rd.

She ended her tirade with a final sputter and a "She just gets MY goat". I had to smile at this point...I felt so very old and she looked so very young. "Dear, dear Jenny, I said, don't you know how to keep her from 'getting your goat'?" She looked startled and then said "no". "It's quite simple, I said, just DON'T tell her where you keep it tied". "If she doesn't know where you keep it tied, she can't possibly 'get it'." And to my great delight, a minute or two later, as what I said sunk in, she grinned from ear to ear.....end of story....almost *VBG*