The Furious Spinner

Conversations fascinate me. I love dialogue. Love to use it in my books and stories. Often writers get it wrong. But a lot of times you can't write conversations word for word—a lot of shorthand occurs that wouldn't make sense on the page. Especially conversations between couples who have been together a long time.

When Mario picked up take-out this weekend, the waiter was very talky. What's interesting about their conversation is that Mario is extremely private and quiet, and he does not readily offer information about himself. (Yet he doesn't have any problem with me writing about him. Go figure.)

Mario handed the waiter his credit card, and this is the conversation that ensued:

Waiter: That's an interesting name. I mean, Milosevic, that's gotta be
Serbian, obviously, but the Mario, the Italian and Serbian together. That's interesting.

Mario: Well, my father was Serbian. But my parents were in Italy when I was born.

Waiter: That explains it. I knew there was a story there. Had to be.

Mario: There's more. My mother is Croatian.

Waiter: Your mother is Croatian!

Mario: Yeah.

Waiter: Wow. But they still love each other right? It was a Romeo and Juliet thing? Forbidden love? Right?

Mario: That's partly why they were in Italy.

Waiter: Yeah, of course. Had to be that way. Interesting.

Mario paid for the take-out and left.

As we were driving home from getting take-out, I apologized to Mario about something, and then I said, "I've been pretty hateful lately, haven't I?" I hugged him as he drove.

Mario hesitated. "I wouldn't say hateful. Cranky."

I pulled away and looked at him. "Oh, well, at least I wasn't hateful."

"You asked."

"You didn't have to answer." I was laughing.

We went back and forth like this, until Mario said, "Can I revise my answer?"

What's difficult to convey with these words is that we've been together for 24 years, so we are able to say these things in good fun. I knew I'd been bitchy for a week; he knew I'd been bitchy, and now we were laughing about it.

I like listening (ease dropping) on couples. Some conversations are extremely difficult to be near–especially if the people are your friends. Some couples are always picking on each other. The Bickertons. I've always hated bickering. Hate passive aggressive behavior. I don't understand it, frankly. I understand aggressive.

Mario and I can have long deep meaningful conversations. Or we can talk about there being too much salt on a potato chip. Or wonder why our friend Stella always has to make an entrance when she comes into a room.

"Maybe she's nervous," I say. "When I'm nervous I put on a persona of sorts. Someone who isn't nervous, who's gregarious."

"I don't know why she's so annoying. She must know she's annoying."

"Maybe she doesn't know. I don't know when I'm annoying. Well, maybe I do, but I don't care."

Sometimes our most profound conversations go like this:

"So what's the plan?"

"As soon as we get home, put the ice cream in the freezer before it melts."

"Goes without saying."

"You put away the groceries. I'll heat up dinner."

"And you'll find something on TV to watch."

"There's nothing on TV to watch. Oh wait, first I've got to check my email. Don't forget the ice cream."

When we were in Santa Fe a few years ago, Mario wrote down all the snatches of conversation he heard while sitting in the plaza. I've reprinted it below.

Overheard

...i haven’t seen him since our father died ten years ago...
...the only time i ever felt bad...
...they had a reading at the bus station...
...is serge coming up for the opening...
...you selling them your house or what...
...we can go stand over there if we want...
...i just really think weber would like it here...
...oh i do it all the time...
...i don’t think we can drive around...
...the restaurant is right over there...
...they had a keg of beer in the back of the truck...
...i was here once...
...you know him so well...
...they have special needs...
...do you see it over there...
...where’s that beautiful birdie...
...and what andrea said...
...you’ve gotta go...
...dave kite dave kite...
...he’s had about all of that he can stand...
...oh yeah it’s this one over here...
...you can’t just stop and go...
...next time she calls me fine...
...yeah i’m crossed...
...well we thought we might hit a couple shops before...
...let’s find a place to sit...
...the best new music...
...something happens over there we can take a picture...
...when will you take me to boyd...
...maybe but then i said waaaaait...
...some days i feel like i’m living in the twilight zone...
...you know you can go get it at the usual rate...
...that’s where i got the um...
...heeeeey jack parindo...
...somebody comes and says would you vacate this two hours later...
...it’s just here yeah...
...so we just spent a lot of time hanging out...
...it’s a burritto...
...well gloria i don’t know...
....how much was it...
...no we can do the whole carpet...
...well okay you can look at it that way...
...so i had a t-shirt on because i need to...
...it’s an organization run by idiots who don’t know anything about money...
...they’ve got eight new buses no fifteen new buses...
...chicken...
...no that’s a pigeon...
...they damaged the running boards they’re just...
...he’s a smart guy...
...did they talk on different experiences or what’d they do...
...they should have arrested me in albuquerque but they let the case slip
away...
...take a picture take a picture...
...no a white guy mexican chicano...
...dale doesn’t wanna stay with me...

—heard by Mario Milosevic
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