They heard me speaking English to the waiter while trying to understand what peppersteak “easy” was exactly and even after having eaten it, I am still unsure. But that’s getting ahead of myself, as usual, so I’ll get back to the two young women, one smoking a cigarette and holding it like it might bite and the other one, the one who does most of the talking, keeps playing with her hair and adjusting the shawl the establishment has draped over the chairs in an effort to alleviate the cold. And she asks, as I’m trying to locate the pieces of black olives in my Greek salad, “Where are you from?”
“New York,” I say, as I always say, thinking of myself as a NYer first and an American second, then add, “But I live in Istanbul now,” and don’t add that I’m looking to relocate.
It’s then the one with the shawl tells me she lived in America for nine months while taking some courses at NYU and living with her sister in Fort Lee, New Jersey. “Funny,” I say, “you don’t look Japanese,” and watch the joke sail over their heads which reminds me once again to keep one’s audience in mind when trying to be funny.
She goes on to tell me about America while I try to eat without appearing rude,her friend remaining quietly absorbed in her cigarette and I do my best to nod, ask appropriate questions, give nonverbal signals to demonstrate how attentive I am, and manage to find what appears to be remnants of what was once black olives.
Then she becomes the expert on America as so many people who have had what can only be referred to as limited exposure to the country seem to be. But she is not critical, in fact almost in awe, as she says, “So many people from all over the world living in such harmony.”
“Only in New York,” I say, then add, “and San Francisco,” and try not to think of all the problems immigrants face daily in so many places in between. But she goes on singing America’s praises and my mind drifts off beyond the salad and “easy” peppesteak to an America I know all too well. It’s then her mostly silent friend says, “You have the saddest eyes.”
And suddenly she becomes more interesting than she was before, except I think there’s not much to build upon beyond what is most likely just a casual observation.
And the conversation, or rather monologue of the expert on America continues until I pay my bill, wish them a good evening, and take my sad eyes back to the hotel bar and then eventually to bed.
Leonard Durso 
Reblogged this on Leonard Durso.
Brilliant post Leonard. It’s the first post I have read of yours that made me laugh. You don’t have sad eyes I consider them kind eyes, and now I know you have a sense of humor. It’s refreshing because I always feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Bye the way you have a great smile too. :o)
C’mon, there’s humor in my books and in some of my posts here, even some of the poetry. But I must admit, not enough. Perhaps because I don’t have people like my old friends and family to bounce off of here. And thanks for your kind words about my smile. I am now trying to find a few older posts with humor to reblog just for you.
Ha!! That makes me smile. Thank you kind sir. I will be looking forward to those posts. I did add your book Harry to my list, if it has some humor in it I might push it to the top. Does It? :o)
Please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all your posts it’s just a connected feeling of sadness that I get when I read many of your offerings. (paranormal? Some tell me I am physic but I never push the issue) and of course your romantic post are the ones I like most.
Ah, well I can’t pretend there’s always sadness lurking around the corner but humor, too. I think of all of my books as comedies, or at least mostly comedies. Perhaps the mystery series I’m working on now isn’t so funny but the rest always have humor mixed in with the sadness. I think those two are part of my DNA. I have your Italian Thing on my kindle and will get around to that soon. I’ve just been shouldering my way through Turkish history these last few months in preparation for a collection of essays. Almost finished, though. Then on to fiction.
“So many people from all over the world living in such harmony”
Is there really such a place? I’m not sure any more.. Might be in Nutopia 🙂
Well New York is still New York, at least it is every time I go back, but the rest of the country, apart from a few isolated spots, is, like the rest of the world, letting fear and prejudice control them. Hence: Donald Trump.
Yes, sure. I just can’t help feeling there is this silent enemy waiting inside these people letting ‘others’ live in ‘their’ harmony for a while, and then assigning people like your Trump and our Trump (you know, our harmony doesn’t even let us spell the name) to stop tolerating others. Yes, OK, I can tell myself to stop feeling hopeless 🙂 Have an amazing day. Greetings from sunny Antalya!
One should never lose hope. It is what separates us from our primate relatives. And yes, I know who you mean here. The world is filling up with Trumps. A cycle, hopefully, before a more humane turn of events. It has been sunny here in Istanbul these last few days, even warm enough for me to sit on my balcony for a while, though my plans include moving this spring to outside Izmir and leaving Istanbul behind for just occasional visits. Enjoy your sun there in lovely Antalya. And stay positive.
Len, I felt like I was sitting at another table observing you searching for that olive and the girls filling up space with lots of words. As usual, great writing. Next time order an olive salad with Greek. Ha!
Thanks, Michael. If I can find it on the menu, I’ll try that.
A great post. It made me remember introducing my father to a Greek lady I knew who served a Greek Salad with some hard green olives, and my father who as an old traditionalist and would never turn his fork around was chasing this last green olive around his plate until he finally speared it and cut it in half and could only eat the bit without the stone.
Ah, well at least he got half. Persistence does pay.
Reblogged this on The Right Act.
Thank you for reblogging this.
I had no other choice… 😉
Wherever you go there are “experts”. I think yu have a very interesting face, one that has seen so much and someone who as a Friebd would be very loyal.
Thank you, Anna. That’s very kind of you to say.
My apologies for the spelling mistakes in my reply to you earlier. Anna.