If you've read
one of my past posts, you have an idea of how my group of friends handles secrets. That is, the group doesn't abide them. To wit, I have a mildly amusing tale of recent days to relate.
Two more of my friends in the group have gotten engaged. (Woot & Congrats to them!) Of course the trick to this tale is that I'm not supposed to know that they got engaged. For a few reasons, ones arguably appropriate, the two engagees decided not to tell the group. BUT they did tell
some people around them. I.e. One of their landlords, a few of their close friends, etc. I found out through one of these people. In kind, I mentioned it, as a rumor, to a friend of mine in the group, Captain Kate of the 5th Armed Bucket Brigade. Captain Kate, agreeing not to relate the channels by which she was informed, confronted one of the engagees and confirmed that they had gotten engaged. (With me so far?)
Now, Captain Kate
(or so I hear through secondary channels, so this is not confirmed) may have spoken spoke [Confirmed by phone, this afternoon. -- Ed] with another friend in the group about this. Let's call this friend Ms. Burns (pseudonym, of course). Mind you Ms. Burns was told of the engagement earlier, last Wed. Ms. Burns, subsequent to speaking with Capt. Kate, spoke to an engagee and related that Captain Kate knew from me. So it looks like I may now be in trouble, to some degree, for knowing something that I'm not supposed to know.
Of course, this whole hullabaloo could have easily been prevented had the engagees told the group or people in the group and not have tried to keep the engagement "under wraps."
I have a sneaky suspicion that they now want
to tell me or to ascertain how I learned of the engagement. [Confirmed by e-mails this afternoon. -- Ed.]
(They left me a voicemail which I haven't returned yet.) My current plan is
to eventually give them a call back but not to divulge my source. If I'm in trouble fine, but I refuse to inculpate a third party whose only crime was relating not-quite-private information to me while under no obligation to do otherwise.