Archive for the ‘Conversations’ Category
In Conversation 3
[Background: Sitting in a hotel bar in Vegas, waiting for someone, reading my Diana Wynne Jones novel and, when the person next to me strikes up a conversation, blathering happily about what I do, and the book, and reveling in my dorkiness. I am so naive! I'd forgotten that Las Vegas is notorious for more than just gambling.]
M: So that’s what I do. What about you? What do you do?
Q: Whatever I want. (pauses significantly) You know what I do.
(silence while Stearns processes)
M: (blushing, no doubt) Well, I do now.
Q: So, what do you say?
M: Erm, you know, I don’t usually have to … pay for that sort of thing.
Q: Really!?
M: Hey! Be nice!
(Q mutters, goes off in search of other prey.)
In Conversation 2
Q: So you work in children’s books? Any books I might have heard of?
M: (uncomfortable shifting) Well, do you have children?
Q: No.
M: Are you, like, married to a children’s librarian?
Q: Um, no.
M: Do you maybe read children’s books for fun?
Q: No.
M: Well, okay then. Nothing you would have heard of.
In Conversation 1
Q: So where are you from?
M: Eh, New York, by way of California.
Q: Oh, I thought you were British!
M: No, just anal-retentive and well-spoken.
Q: … Oh.
