The Neighbor Favor(12)
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: October 13, 3:27am
SUBJECT: Re: I’m alive
Lily, I feel the same. As I said before, you’re the only person I regularly correspond with other than my boss and literary agent, and I have to admit that your emails bring me much more joy than theirs. In my line of work, I meet strangers all the time, and once we get to know each other well, I have to leave. It’s funny that we’ve never met, but our connection has endured.
P.S.—I’m in Vilnius, Lithuania. Not sure where I’m headed next, still waiting on that assignment. Here’s a picture of Vilnius’s Cathedral Square. I thought the buildings were striking. I immediately felt at peace in that space. I hope that looking at this picture can do the same for you.
FROM: Lily G. <[email protected]>
TO: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
DATE: November 28, 9:51pm
SUBJECT: Happy Thanksgiving
Hi Strick,
It’s Thanksgiving Day here in North America. I’ve been cooking and baking with my mom and sisters all day.
Where are you? How are you?
XO,
Lily
P.S.—Thank you for sending the picture of the Cathedral Square. I looked at it several times over the last month, and it did bring me peace.
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]> TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: November 28, 11:22pm
SUBJECT: Re: Happy Thanksgiving
Lily—
It’s so good to hear from you. I’m in Plzeň, Czech Republic. I’ve been getting to know a couple who work at the Pilsner Urquell brewery (home of the pilsner beer; have you ever tried it?) What did you bake? How are you doing?
~Strick
FROM: Lily G. <[email protected]>
TO: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
DATE: November 30, 1:34am
SUBJECT: Re: Happy Thanksgiving
Hi Strick,
Last night I fell asleep right after writing to you. I guess that’s what happens when you eat seconds of Thanksgiving dinner and finish it with pie. (I baked every pie: apple cinnamon, pumpkin and sweet potato.) It was the first full night of sleep I’ve had in months.
I’ve never tried pilsner beer. I’m not much of a beer drinker, actually. Speaking of beer, earlier tonight, Violet dragged me to the bar in our hometown and we ran into two guys who were in love with her in high school (because every guy was in love with her in high school), and while Violet got drunk and ended up making out with one of the guys on the dance floor, I got stuck with his friend Devon, who was dead set on describing the ins and outs of his PhD program. I was so bored and tired that I literally fell asleep in the middle of the conversation. Devon was offended, and I felt terrible. I wish I had the heart to tell him that economics isn’t as interesting as he might think.
It’s kind of funny that my bad date plague continues, even when it’s unplanned. It got me wondering what a good date would be like. My “ideal date,” I guess you could say. I wouldn’t mind if we did something basic, like go to the movies and get burgers. Or maybe walk around the park and stop at a bookstore (this might be asking for too much lol). Really it would be nice to spend an evening with someone who wanted to hear what I had to say, rather than talk about themselves all night, and who was patient with my nerves and lack of eloquence.
Do you date a lot while traveling? What is the best date you’ve ever been on? Or what does your ideal date look like?
XO,
Lily
FROM: N.R. Strickland <[email protected]>
TO: Lily G. <[email protected]>
DATE: December 5, 8:52pm
SUBJECT: Re: Happy Thanksgiving
Lily—
I’m not sure that I would call what I do “dating.” It’s hard to commit to someone when you know you’ll be gone in a few weeks. I don’t see the point in long distance.
The best date I’ve ever been on was during my first year at the magazine. While in Paris, I had a picnic with a girl on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t know if I’d consider that my ideal date, but it was cliché and it’s Paris, so there you have it.
I think the requirements of my ideal date would be equally as simple as yours: to spend time with someone I liked and who liked me.
Your bad date stories make it seem as though the men in the US are incompetent. I don’t understand how they keep fumbling their chances with you.
If you were here with me in Plzeň, I’d first bring you to meet Agata and Andel (the couple I’ve been getting to know), we’ll say we have to leave because we have dinner reservations, but Agata would encourage us to stay and eat dinner with them instead. She’ll say that her rajská omá?ka (beef in tomato soup) is better than anything we’ll eat at a restaurant, and she’ll be right. After we leave their home, we’ll be so full that we’ll walk around the city slowly, staring up at the clear night sky. I’ll point at a constellation of stars and say they look like the shape of a dog. You’ll smile, shake your head and say I’m only making things up so that you’ll laugh, which would be true.
We’ll walk by a bookshop, which will have just closed minutes before. But the owner recognizes that we’re true book lovers, so she lets us stay late and browse the shelves. You’ll choose a Czech edition of Ella Enchanted. I’ll consider buying A Song of Ice and Fire but then I’ll remember my failed aspirations to be like George R. R. Martin, and I’ll decide against it.