Confessions of a Curious Bookseller(72)
Fawn, Owner
Fawn Birchill/CuriousCatBooks/14h
Fawn here! What classic literary character represents you most? Fawn: Daisy Buchanan, Madame Bovary, Caddy Compson all in one!
Fawn Birchill/CuriousCatBooks/13h
Fawn here! What classic literary character represents you most? Jack: Bilbo Baggins, Dirk Pitt.
From: Jack Grisby
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 8:02 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Subject: Pool party Monday
Hi Fawn,
Can I take Monday off to go to a pool party at my house?
Thankyou
Jack
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 9:23 PM
To: Jack Grisby
Re: Pool party Monday
Jack,
That is completely fine. I didn’t know you had a pool—how lavish! Is it aboveground or inground? It always makes a world of difference to me. Where inground is fashionable and always costs loads of money to install, with aboveground I always feel like a fish in a large, opaque fishbowl, constantly going in circles or small straight shots. The design doesn’t wear one out but only gives one the sense of aquatic claustrophobia. Swimming becomes an act of futility, more than anything else. It is my opinion with pools, at least, that one must go big or go home.
Incidentally, growing up it was always my classmates whose parents were lawyers or doctors who had inground pools. I envied them greatly—especially since they would never invite me over. Sometimes, in the dead of summer, my sister and I would don bathing suits and leave our dusty yard, biking the five miles with towels draped over our shoulders in the hope that Tiffany (the one with the pool who lived closest to us) would invite us over if she saw us biking in front of her house. One day, Florence and I circled her driveway for so long that her mother came out and told us to “get lost.” By that time we were quite hot and thirsty, and the noise of splashing and merriment behind their palatial home was enough to make Florence burst into tears right in front of her. The display did not soften her heart of stone. We went back home after this and resigned ourselves to filling up the bathtub with cold water and taking turns lying there in our bathing suits. Unfortunately, Father was always too cheap to even consider the smallest of abovegrounds. We weren’t even the envy of the poorest kids in the trailer down the street, who had one of their own anyway.
Ah, here I am going on! You can see I am sensitive when it comes to talk of pools! Of course you may take Monday off. I will continue on here with no trouble whatsoever, though it is unlikely that anyone will venture in on Memorial Day, so I’m hoping that I may be able to just close. Is this family only or are you also inviting friends? Inground or above?
Excited for you,
Fawn, Owner
From: Jack Grisby
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 9:54 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Re: Pool party Monday
Hi Fawn,
Its inground with a Jacuzzi attached to it and then next to it is a poolhouse and an outdoor wet bar with lots of rum in it.
Jack
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 10:17 PM
To: Jack Grisby
Re: Pool party Monday
Jack,
Ah, magnifique! I had no idea your family was so affluent! What do your parents do?
Incidentally, I make a mean cold macaroni salad, so if you are short on them, I can make one for the party and leave it in the fridge for you to take over. I am in no way inviting myself but simply offering to put in some time to make a delicious snack for your guests. Do think on it!
Fawn, Owner
From: Jack Grisby
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 10:32 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Re: Pool party Monday
My mom is a prosecuton lawyer and my dad is an heir to an oil fortune and basically now he is a philanthripist and he opens halfway houses in the city.
Oh and I talked to my mom and she said that there is no need for extra food because it will be catered but she says thankyou.
Jack
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:14 PM
To: Jack Grisby
Re: Pool party Monday
Jack,
My heavens—I had no idea, Jack! Your parents must be very hard to hate!
Even though you say it will be catered, I recommend you sneak my macaroni salad in among the food. It will be a homemade delight. Who, may I ask, have you hired for the catering? Tell me it is not Fortieth Street Catering.
Fawn, Owner
From: Jack Grisby
Sent: Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:55 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Re: Pool party Monday
No we are not using Fortieth Street but someone else I’m not sure.
Jack
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Thu, May 23, 2019 at 12:12 AM
To: Jack Grisby
Re: Pool party Monday
Jack,
Phew! You dodged a bullet by not hiring them. Your parents have truly amazing taste for going with someone else. I applaud them.
As you are not catching on to my many hints, I am just going to come out and ask this. Please do not feel obligated to say yes. Even though I am your boss, in no way should you be pressured to think that if you said no, I would consider firing you. Does your pool party have room for one more? Trust me, if you say no, I will definitely not show up on my bike in a bathing suit, circling like a shark until you let me through the gates! Ha ha!
Fawn, Owner