Good Material

Andy moves his belongings out of storage and into the houseboat. When he meets Bob to hand over the keys, Bob gives him a tour of the boat and explains that the boat must be moved every two weeks because it’s expensive to rent a permanent slip in the canal. The bed is too small for Andy, and the plumbing can be fiddly. Andy soon realizes that living on a boat isn’t as romantic as it sounds. Once he settles in, he feels lonely and isolated on the boat and reaches out to Tash via Instagram messages. Though his banter with Tash has provided a welcome distraction, she won’t respond to his meeting requests, and he feels like she’s lost interest. She doesn’t respond to his messages, and when he looks up her profile on Instagram, he can’t find her, meaning that she’s either deleted her account or blocked him. Suddenly, Andy doesn’t want to be on the boat and craves the company of another person. He opens his WhatsApp text thread with Jen to revisit their old memories. Using the search bar to look up their old sexts, he accidentally sends her a sexy message, and she quickly responds angrily. Andy apologizes and claims that he meant to send it to Avi. Andy falls asleep thinking about everything he loves about Jen’s face.

Andy moves out of the houseboat, puts his things back into storage, and moves back in with Avi and Jane, who announce that they are pregnant with their third baby. The news shocks Andy but also makes him miss Jen. Andy responds to an advertisement from a 78-year-old man named Morris looking for a roommate. Morris, a quirky man who appears suspicious of everyone, says that Andy can move in in two days.

Andy moves in with Morris, who, when he sees how few possessions Andy has, assumes that he is a tax evader trying to live off grid. Morris has a bomb shelter and an extensive houseplant collection, which he tells Andy not to touch. Though Morris is a bit strange, the home feels cozy, and they both share a love for the Beatles. Andy invites a few friends out for drinks, and they poke fun at him for living with an old man. Avi encourages Andy to incorporate the developments in his personal life into his comedy routine. Andy asks his friends if he should text Jen on her birthday. Almost in unison, they respond, “no,” making Andy think that they are talking about him behind his back through a “WhatsApp breakout group they may have formed called something like Managing Andy” (141). Though his friends push him to move on, Andy admits that he’s not ready to eliminate Jen from his life completely. Using his notes app, Andy practices how he might wish Jen a happy birthday.

Andy begins working out with a trainer, Kelly, who pushes him to admit that he wants to get into shape because he’s going through a breakup. Kelly just broke up with her partner, Natalie, and she promises Andy that she will change his life. She puts him on a low-carb eating plan, and he must send her photos of his meals. Andy works at a friend’s cheese stall at a food convention on Jen’s birthday and sends her his carefully curated birthday message, keeping the tone light by reminding her of a fun memory they shared. She responds in the same light tone and thanks him for the text. Andy decides to respond and instantly realizes that he went too far when she responds with only, “Haha X” (149), which he understands means that she doesn’t want to continue talking. Andy realizes that he placed too much meaning on sending the birthday text, thinking that it would magically rekindle their romance. He lists other reasons why he might text her to avoid admitting that it’s over.

Andy no longer travels to Edinburgh each August for The Fringe festival and is thus left with mid-level comedy gigs in London. Instead of planning his set, Andy obsesses over food and is so hungry during the set that he can’t remember his jokes. He returns home and devours a block of cheese, which he doesn’t photograph for Kelly.

Andy has dreams of Jen so lucid and realistic that he wakes up convinced that they are still together. His friends schedule another night out, but everyone but Rob and Avi cancels at the last minute, and he can tell that they both don’t want to be there, feeling “their support for The Andy Society waning” (153). Morris is peeling potatoes to freeze when Andy returns home because he claims that something will happen next year for which he needs to prepare. He won’t give specifics but says that he learned about it from an online web community. Before bed, Andy stares at photos of him and Jen on his phone, hoping that it will make him dream of her again.

Eating cheese before bed upsets Andy’s stomach, and he’s sick in the bathroom all night. Morris finds him on the floor and assumes that it’s drugs. Andy spends all day in bed and cancels his evening gig. Later, he finds Morris writing a letter, which, along with a cheque, he is delivering by hand to Julian Assange in prison. Morris respects Assange and gives him monthly support, though none of the cheques have yet to clear. He claims that he must deliver them by hand to avoid compromising the letters. Andy returns to bed, intent on watching a movie, but everything reminds him of Jen. He sleeps through the night and wakes up to a message from her.

Jen’s text requests to meet Andy at the bank to close their shared bank account. When he meets her, the tone is awkward, and they speak like unfamiliar strangers. Jen is still living with her sister until her tenants in the flat that she owns move out in a month. However, Andy realizes that Jen lied to him about her apartment because landlords must give renters at least two months’ notice, not one. They meet with the bank advisor to close the account, and in front of him, Andy accuses Jen of lying and planning to move out before they went to Paris and officially broke up. Jen becomes angry and denies lying about anything. She doesn’t want to waste time arguing since she must return to work, a statement that Andy sees as a dig against his lack of career. Jen claims that he owes her money for the train ticket to Paris, and Andy dramatically writes a cheque and throws it at her. The argument escalates, and Jen tells Andy that he needs help overcoming their breakup. She claims that she misses him but has found healthy ways to deal with her grief. Andy despises her patronizing tone and says that he can’t even go to the ocean anymore because it reminds him of her.

Avi and Andy go to a pub to watch a soccer match, and Andy realizes that his group of friends is reduced to two. When he tells Avi about the bank debacle, Avi says that he is sure the account closure could be handled over the phone. There’s an air of agitation to their conversation as Avi is weary of Andy’s obsession with Jen. Avi asserts that Andy is stuck in “the memories and unlived potentials of that relationship” (177), preventing him from healing and moving on. Avi explains that having a wife and kids cured him of obsessing over past loves. Later, Andy thinks about how he is exhausting his friends with his prolonged sadness and must be more mindful of how often he mentions Jen or the breakup. Emery calls from an Edinburgh bar and says that his shows are a hit. He invites Andy to join him in Scotland, but Andy declines, seeing no reason to be a tagalong. Andy searches online for reviews of Emery’s Edinburgh shows, which describe him as a “genius.” Andy is happy for his friend but can’t deny his jealousy.

Morris is an avid Beatles fan and claims that George Harrison once visited his home. He wanted a plaque installed outside, naming the house as a part of the Beatles’ history, but English Heritage denied his request. A local newspaper is doing a story on Morris’s complaint, and he asks Andy to comment on the “disgrace,” which Andy dutifully does when the reporter and photographer arrive.

Andy takes his mom out for tea to celebrate her birthday. As she browses the makeup and fragrances in the shops while he watches, bored, he considers how he struggles to understand women. He gives her a set of karaoke microphones, which she finds a strange gift, and she refuses to let him pay the bill. Andy feels that he is a disappointment to his mother and admits that he feels like a failure. She empathizes with his grief and assures him of her unconditional love. She gives him a book called “Why Elephants Cry: The Science of Heartbreak” (191). Andy appreciates the gift but wishes to be vulnerable and share his feelings with his mother. He doesn’t have the language to describe what he is feeling and experiencing, which may be part of his problem relating to women, who appear to have no issues sharing their feelings.

On the long walk home, Andy thinks about his relationship with Jen and how they had a “subculture of two” (194), which consisted of the individual likes they each brought to the relationship and the interests and hobbies they curated together. He pines for that familiarity and wonders if he will ever find it again with another person, and he doesn’t know where to store all his emotional baggage until he finds someone.

The newspaper prints Morris’s story, and Andy is happy that they treat Morris with respect. Morris is working on another letter for Julian Assange, and Andy is preparing for a gig he dreads. Morris asks him why he doesn’t try to find other jobs, like hosting a late-night television show, but Andy doesn’t have the energy to explain the complexities of the entertainment industry. Andy asks Morris to go for a drink to get acquainted, and Morris accepts.

Andy is hired to do a stand-up set at a wedding reception, but he hardly knows anything about the bride and groom and struggles to create material, and his set is a flop. When Andy returns home, Emery sends a text announcing that he won Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Festival. Andy is proud of his friend but too jealous to send a congratulatory text. He begins reading the book that his mother gave him, which details how elephants grieve their dead much like humans. They bury the bones and linger near them for a time as if they’re not yet ready to part with their loved ones.