My roommate has just returned from visiting her parents in Florida for the holidays, and has brought with her, some of her most prized possessions - her books. Well, not all her books, but a good number that she had been missing, and some that had recently come into conversation in regards to things I might be interested in. One of these being the novelette, "Shopgirl", by the great comedian and grammy-winning banjo player (yes, true story), Steve Martin.
The book was made into a film also staring Martin several years ago; a quirky tale of a young, lost and only slightly poor young woman who works at the lonely glove counter at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. One day, she is approached by the older, and much more successful businessman played by Martin, and an offbeat semi romance ensues.
Martin's writing is not exquisite, although poignant, and at moments seems to perfectly illustrate the phenomenal misunderstanding that inevitably and repeatedly happens when men and women have "the conversation".
Example:
"'I think I should tell you a few things. I don't think I'm ready for a real relationship right now.' He says this not to Mirabelle but to the air, as though he is just discovering a truth about himself and accidentally speaking it aloud.
Mirabelle answers, 'You had a rough time with your divorce.'
Understanding. For Ray Porter, that is good. She absolutely knows that this will never be long term. He goes on: 'But I love seeing you and I want to keep seeing you.'
'I do too,' says Mirabelle. Mirabelle believes he has told her that is bordering on falling in love with her, and Ray believes she understands that he isn't going to be any body's boyfriend.
'I'm traveling too much right now,' he says. In this sentence, he serves notice that he would like to come into town, sleep with her, and leave. Mirabelle believes that he is expressing frustration at having to leave town and that he is trying to cut down on traveling."
As entertaining as this may sound to readers of either gender, it is disturbing to me just how familiar this conversation is. No one out to hurt the other, and every effort made to make this conversation, this relationship, the first to sail on hassle-free. Every decision made, every outcome reached to be totally and completely mutual. In other words, impossible.
Bravo Steve Martin.
