The Pleasure of My Company

I was looking through a library rack (old school!) and found a 2003 work of fiction by that "wild and crazy guy" from SNL-- our old pal Mr. Martin. Photo on front of book shows a guy with arms hugging his own body, so how could I go wrong with that?

This book did not disappoint. Our antagonist is Dan, an OCD math whiz (possibly autistic) who sits in a Santa Monica condo, looking out his window....Hmm,  I do that:

Dan can walk to a particular pharmacy, only if no curbs mar his trip. His plan is to cross his road at a spot that has a carport path on his right, facing a matching carport path across said road. A six inch curb is truly six yards high in Dan's world.  I, too, know many hours a day in Fort NJBookwoman, so  I can say "Hurrah" to Dan's valiant contacts with a non-nurturing world. I do cross my Fort's boundary daily with a sashay down my long carport path to pick up mail.

But Dan still has many wondrous actions and things to talk about, such as this:
Dan is on a TV criminal show about a killing in his building.

or this:
A company that cooks up yummy fruit pastry starts a campaign that Dan wins, as Most Normal Guy in this happy country of ours.

or this:
Dan waits for Clarissa, his psychologist in training who visits on Fridays and has a baby boy.

or this:
Dan has fantasy thoughts about a foxy lady who is usually across from his brick building, lounging against a fancy black car and talking to guys and gals who want to own a condo. This lady has a Montblanc and says "Sign now", but Dan just longs for this lady to look up at his window and grin at him.

Hmm again...Is it unusual that I can sight similar signs on my own road and a black car:

But I spy no man who works for an organization on that sign. (Nor do I long for such a man!)


and finally Dan's big crisis:
Dan's Grandma stops living and Dan wants to go to visit and honor his granny. Clarissa and baby son will go, too. Can Dan do it? No, too many things to worry about, but Dan wants to try so hard. So our autistic pal thinks and says "I'll go but won't say words that contain this particular part of ABCs and I will focus on this task and won't worry about all things which normally limit my world."

TA DA! Dan did it!

Stop, you say! You know what is amiss.

OK. Finis.

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Whew, I'm exhausted. Did you figure it out? Or did you worry I had started drinking in the morning or toking in the afternoon? 

Look again at this crazy post---no e's! (although i cheated a tiny bit with the title of the post)

Steve Martin's The Pleasure of My Company is a very funny and touching novel and  commentary on modern life, love and loneliness. The narrator and hero is Daniel Pecan Cambridge, who travels all the way to Texas despite his myriad phobias by focusing on a game of speaking without using any words that have the letter E in them.  Along the way he learns to reclaim his life.

Before you say I have way too much time on my hands, consider this as an exercise in preventive Alzheimer's. You know, learn a new language, do crossword puzzles, keep the brain active in new ways. Speak (or write) without e's! You may want to try it, but give yourself a break and begin with an easier vowel: U would be a good choice and writing is definitely easier than speaking!