As Much Love as Possible, by Graham Swift

As Much Love as Possible, by Nora Carranza

“As Much Love as Possible” explains an apparently eventless evening when two old friends, Alec and Bill, spend a few hours drinking whisky.

Alec invites Bill to come home and share a bottle of an old and appreciated Macallan, considering that his wife Sue would be out with her friends. Bill was also alone, his wife being away with her parents.

When Bill arrives, Sue is about to leave, and looks fantastic, it seems she has a kind of shine in herself. She welcomes Bill with a generous hug.

Years ago, Bill didn’t try to make any move to approach Sue, he considered she was the right girl for Alec, and gave the precedence to his good friend.  It was a good decision and, in a short time, he met Sophie, they got married and had two kids.

Alec and Sue took some years before they had twins, probably they enjoyed that time just for them together. By now, the twins were 4 or 5 years old, Bill wasn’t sure, although he was their godfather.

Alec had forgotten to call the taxi for Sue, but Bill offered himself for a ride to the restaurant.

But when Bill drove to the restaurant, he felt as if he and Sue were a couple having a date. Sue was grateful to Bill, explained about her two friends, they all had gone to the same hair academy, and now each one had her own salon, financed by Alec.

Bill asked himself when he and Sue will be together in such an intimacy and exclaimed, “I love you, Sue. I love Sophie, but I love you. Don’t you think there could be as much love as possible”? As an answer to that, Sue approached and gave Bill a soft kiss.

They say formal goodbyes, but Bill remarked, “I can see down your top when you lean”.

Later, Bill and Alec spent the informal evening drinking the Macallan and eating the pie Sue left for them.

Bill knew he had to stop drinking alcohol, he wanted to go back home driving his car, and avoiding having to sleep in the spare bedroom in that house.

Nothing notorious seems to have occurred during the facts described in the story.

Finally, Sue returned home at about half past eleven, not very late in Alec’s opinion. She looked as before, with her natural inner light, after the “girls” night out.

When Bill asked Sue about her evening, she replied she had the “most wonderful evening”.

 

I think that, as in many other stories of this author, we can imagine different motives for the actions of the characters. Perhaps Bill was moved by old feelings, hidden in his heart, that reappeared at that moment of unexpected proximity with warm Sue.

Bill was moved when he saw the twins sleeping, remembering his own children. Was he resenting his words to Sue? Was he thinking about his friend Alec, who ignored what had happened?

And Sue, why was she so happy, because of her time with the girls, or because the feelings she provoked in her husband's friend?

QUESTIONS

-There is a word repeated several times, “decent”. What does this word mean for you?

-“Girls night”, “boys night”: what do people do in these nights? Why are they different?

-Alec says that the bottle of whiskey fell off the back of a lorry. Do you think it’s true? If not, why does he say that?

-Do women tend to dress more carefully than men (they are only wearing “woollens”), more “decorated”? In this sense, do you think women use more icons than men on the whatsapp conversations?

-Why didn’t Bill marry Sue? Don’t you think he excused his decision with poor arguments? So, why does he feel something for her now?

-Usually, people get less attractive when they grow old (they say). How can they reverse it? Or is it the way we see people?

-What made you suspect that that night she had tender feelings for Bill?

-Bill felt attracted by Sue’s attire (she shimmered). But there was also something in her personality that seduced Bill: what was it?

-We’re having again a question we’ve debated before: is it possible to love two girlfriends / boyfriends… at the same time?

-Why do you think she kissed him when he told her he loved her? Was his love for Sue platonic? Was it a loving kiss, or a compassionate kiss?

Why wouldn’t Bill like to spend the night in their spare room?

What do you know about the film Un rencontre (“Reencontrar el amor”, in Spanish), starring François Creuzet and Sophie Marceau?

Why do you think she wasn’t awkward in any moment?

Do you think she came earlier from her dinner because she wanted to see him?

In your opinion, her wonderful evening was because of the girls’ night or because what Bill said to her?

 

VOCABULARY

ushered, soldiered, yersel, cardiganed hug, shepherd's pie, dastardly, woollens, ditzy, shrewd, best man, hitched, shimmer, puffa, tumblers, quandary, breast-beating, sparko, buster, contritely, scoffed at, bogus, rueful, bubble, sloshed, cane, mop it up, waxing, Caledonian, haggis, mon, schoolmasterly, slobs, garbled, wee, smarting, blunder