Friday – The Girlfriend
Aug. 6th, 2010 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
.
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Last night was the first Thursday of the month, so I went to the little bookstore up the road for our book club meeting. Last month we had a record crowd – at least 10 people showed up - but this month Kristen picked a 562 page tome that apparently not everyone was able to get through, so only a few of us were there to discuss it.
As I was waiting for the other members of the club to show up, Kristen and her mother-in-law, Judy, who run the store, were helping one of their regular customers check out. One book, a Chilton Manual of some sort, he said was for his business and needed to be put on his American Express card. The other two books were for his teen-aged sons, one 14 and the other 16. Judy inquired about how his boys were doing.
Good, he said, good. He was a little worried about his younger boy, who is bookish and sensitive. The kid gets his feeling hurt easily, and he worries that life is going to be tough on him because of this. The older boy is athletic and outgoing, but his father is chagrined that his firstborn has fallen in love with a girl who is "dumber than a box of hammers."
Judy asked, “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. The first time I met her was the day my son got in a fender bender, and she got out of the car and said Wow, I’m probably going to have a bad back for the rest of my life because of your son’s car. She didn’t even say hello or introduce herself to me, she just said that. So I’m, like, Okay, we are not getting off on the right foot here. So I asked her why she thought that, and then she starts talking – just talking about nothing in particular – for five minutes but never getting to any point about her back or the car or anything. I wasn’t impressed. But he’s crazy about her. She’s his first love and because she’s so dumb she always needs rescuing and he’s always right there for her.” He shook his head. “He’s very bright, and while she’s pretty and all that I can’t see what else about her appeals to him. It’s not like she’s someone you can have a conversation with or anything.”
I looked at the man, and guessed he was a 16-year-old boy only a few years longer than half his life ago. Apparently he’s forgotten that having conversations is low on the list of thing that 16-year-old boys are interested in doing with 16-year-old girls.
“Maybe it like what Dave Berry said about dogs. You know: You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, ‘My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that! She's like that; no matter what he says, she thinks he's brilliant.”
“Hmmmm,” the man said, “Maybe. That could explain it.”
“That's it! Get him a puppy!” Judy suggested.
“Good idea! I’ll look into that. But if that doesn’t work I’m worried he’s never going to get tired of her.”
“A flighty, silly girl like that?” I said, “You're right: he’ll never get tired of her. The good news is that she probably has such a short attention span she’ll dump him for another guy a few weeks after school starts. You remember how that kind of girl is. Of course, he’ll be devastated and in tears when it happens.”
The man smiled and sighed as he contemplated the idea of his son's first heartbreak. “I can only hope,” he said, “It just can’t happen soon enough.”
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
Last night was the first Thursday of the month, so I went to the little bookstore up the road for our book club meeting. Last month we had a record crowd – at least 10 people showed up - but this month Kristen picked a 562 page tome that apparently not everyone was able to get through, so only a few of us were there to discuss it.
As I was waiting for the other members of the club to show up, Kristen and her mother-in-law, Judy, who run the store, were helping one of their regular customers check out. One book, a Chilton Manual of some sort, he said was for his business and needed to be put on his American Express card. The other two books were for his teen-aged sons, one 14 and the other 16. Judy inquired about how his boys were doing.
Good, he said, good. He was a little worried about his younger boy, who is bookish and sensitive. The kid gets his feeling hurt easily, and he worries that life is going to be tough on him because of this. The older boy is athletic and outgoing, but his father is chagrined that his firstborn has fallen in love with a girl who is "dumber than a box of hammers."
Judy asked, “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. The first time I met her was the day my son got in a fender bender, and she got out of the car and said Wow, I’m probably going to have a bad back for the rest of my life because of your son’s car. She didn’t even say hello or introduce herself to me, she just said that. So I’m, like, Okay, we are not getting off on the right foot here. So I asked her why she thought that, and then she starts talking – just talking about nothing in particular – for five minutes but never getting to any point about her back or the car or anything. I wasn’t impressed. But he’s crazy about her. She’s his first love and because she’s so dumb she always needs rescuing and he’s always right there for her.” He shook his head. “He’s very bright, and while she’s pretty and all that I can’t see what else about her appeals to him. It’s not like she’s someone you can have a conversation with or anything.”
I looked at the man, and guessed he was a 16-year-old boy only a few years longer than half his life ago. Apparently he’s forgotten that having conversations is low on the list of thing that 16-year-old boys are interested in doing with 16-year-old girls.
“Maybe it like what Dave Berry said about dogs. You know: You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, ‘My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that! She's like that; no matter what he says, she thinks he's brilliant.”
“Hmmmm,” the man said, “Maybe. That could explain it.”
“That's it! Get him a puppy!” Judy suggested.
“Good idea! I’ll look into that. But if that doesn’t work I’m worried he’s never going to get tired of her.”
“A flighty, silly girl like that?” I said, “You're right: he’ll never get tired of her. The good news is that she probably has such a short attention span she’ll dump him for another guy a few weeks after school starts. You remember how that kind of girl is. Of course, he’ll be devastated and in tears when it happens.”
The man smiled and sighed as he contemplated the idea of his son's first heartbreak. “I can only hope,” he said, “It just can’t happen soon enough.”
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Date: 2010-08-06 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-07 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 02:40 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, not a lot has changed in the last 25 years, has it?