Letters from Sam -Blue Jeans and Soup

A short story about a brother writing to his sister about a cute girl he met.

-July 1999, Los Angeles-

 

~Dear Lauren,

 

~To my darling sister, hello! How have you been? How’s life in Florida? Did you get a real job yet or are you still getting by on your looks?

 

And to answer your questions from the last letter, Yes, I’m still working. Yes, I saw She’s All That and Yes, it was a funny re-imagining of My Fair Lady but even though Rachael Leigh Cook is a very attractive woman she is NOT prettier than Gwyneth Paltrow.

Nobody is.

 

And, No, I am NOT a complete social outcast to the opposite sex, I just haven’t been trying as much these past couple years because I’m very preoccupied with something called a career.

 

Besides, unlike you, I actually have a home to myself that I enjoy relaxing in without the constant need to invite the entire community every night for an expensive cocktail party. I do have a social life, but sometimes I enjoy listening to some music or reading a magazine by myself.    

 

~However, and I’m sure to your surprise, I did in fact go on a date with an actual girl recently.

Surprise, surprise.

 

It all happened last month when I just got back from a writing assignment I did in Las Vegas about gambling addiction.

 

Oh yeah, Vegas was nice by the way. I stayed at the Excalibur and spent plenty of time in the casino smoking. Even though it was cold, I ran up and down the strip and had plenty of fun, the Circus Circus was just a flashy pigsty, but I loved the Gold Nugget, it had a lovely buffet and nice carpet floors. There was also a pirate ship and a bunch of lights. Sure, it sounded nice, but I just basically spent most my off time relaxing by the pool, watching the bikinis walk by while having some McDonalds.      

 

Anyways, a day after I got home, my friend Richard phoned and invited me to some party he was having at his place in the Hollywood Hills.  

 

When I got there, I had to park blocks away down the hill because it was so damn crowded, then it was about ten minutes of walking before I got there. His villa was full of people.

 

-Richard was a painter, he’s a pretty flashy guy, he’s also obsessed with Jamie Lee Curtis from that movie Perfect. Recently, Richard has been on a weird Ocean-faze, he’s been wasting gas every morning driving out to Santa Monica to swim in the ocean before the sun rises, he has been eating nothing but fish and tropical fruits like pineapples and mangoes and he’s had this huge infatuation with Jacques Cousteau.

 

In fact, at his party he was playing Cousteau’s deep-sea documentary The Silent World over and over again, it was very lovely and very colorful and surprisingly it had a lot of shark murder and fish being blown up with dynamite.

Richard said it was artistic.

 

I was wandering around for half an hour looking for him until I saw this cute blonde chatting it up with some other girls. She had long wavy hair, a loose white blouse, Levi’s blue jeans with sandals and sunglasses. What stood out the most was the over-sized brown sunhat she wore.

By chance she glanced over at me and sent me a smile.  

 

Lauren, I haven’t hit on a girl for almost a year up until that point, but damn she looked good in those jeans.  

 

I was about to walk over to her and try my luck when Richard popped out of nowhere and pulled me away to hours of chatting with all sorts of people I could care less about; not to be rude. When I got away it was already late night with folks beginning to leave, much to my disappointment the blonde was already gone.

Counting my losses, I thanked Richard for inviting me and made my way out.   

 

I was walking down those sloped roads on these green hills looking for my car. It was dark so it made it harder to find, not to mention that I parked so far away. I stopped for a minute to stretch my legs and light a cigarette when suddenly, I heard this lovely voice asking me,

“You got a light?”

 

I turned around and saw that cute blonde from the party standing there, one hand in her pocket and the other holding up a cigarette between her two slender fingers. Her over-sized sunhat was atop her head and she flashed me a playful grin through her sunglasses.

She did not look like a smoker.

 

I was surprised but didn’t shy away from walking up to her and lighting her cigarette. She puffed a thank you to me and to my amazement we began walking and talking! She was in her early twenties and studying architecture at the University of California, she was here staying at a friend’s house while on her days off. She grew up in Boston though she doesn’t much care for it, but she does love baseball. She enjoys music, relaxing at home on a cozy afternoon and loves lobster with butter.    

  

After a few minutes later, we finally found my car and I offered her a lift to which she accepted. We got in the car and began driving, the radio was playing but she didn’t much care about what was on, so she looked through the tapes I had, and she complimented me on my taste in music. She was very happy to see I had Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors; her favorite album.

She was a big fan of Stevie Nicks and I was becoming a big fan of her. 

 

As we drove, we started to talk more. I found out she also has a passion for reading, more particularly the novels of V.C. Andrews, her favorite book is Flowers in the Attic. I told her I was a fan of John Saul, she said his books were too creepy for her, which is funny to hear because Flowers in the Attic is a novel about adolescent incest.

Different folks, different strokes.

 

Anyways Lauren, long story short; we had a wonderful time. We drove for an hour chatting and smoking before we got hungry and found this nice little diner that was open 24-7. It was a great little place with a checkered floor and hot coffee.

 

They even had 30 different types of soup! I didn’t even know there were that many types! We talked, we laughed, and the crackers kept on coming.

 

~Sam

Author's Note

-I listened a lot to George Harrison's 1987 album "Cloud Nine" while writing this.

Reviews

[J.M.Fields]

I find this fairly pleasant, it's nice for a change to read something so quiet and natural. I should've been bored by reading this but I wasn't. There were no twists and turns, nothing dramatic happened, just a boy talking about a girl, and all the other sites around him. And I can see where this character is reflective of yourself and by this I can tell you're quite the film enthusiast and enjoy the simple things in life. It was nice to rest and read this, it's nothing thrilling but something I think I would like to read with cup of coffee for a quick smile. I rather enjoyed it.

[MarkAndTheOcean]

Thanks Fields, it's good to hear from you it's been a long time haha! Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed this!
Yeah, sometimes it's good to just write/read a pleasant and simple story once in a while, we all need a little variety in life.

[J.M.Fields]

You know it's probably been 2 years since I've been on here, lol. I've just been working on my book. I posted the first chapter on my profile, I'd love it if you gave me a review. But I do plan on being more active and writing and reviewing a bunch more so feel free to send me anything else that your mind thinks up. :)

[MarkAndTheOcean]

That's good to hear you're doing so well, I'm trying my hand at writing an actual book but it slugs along haha. Looking forward to reading your stuff and I think I will once I crank out some more :)

[Anne’sRants]

I understand the viewpoint of the writer of this letter at the beginning. People are often not on the top of my priority list. i love how that changes to a detailed account of a very memorable evening for him. The type of detail that leads me to believe he played that beautiful night over and over in his head. I also love the distant camaraderie between the two siblings. So very human.

[MarkAndTheOcean]

Thank you for your kind words! Haha yeah, people can get annoying at times. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[barleygirl]

What hooks a reader at the start is becuz this letter appears to deliver a s****y attitude in a subtle way . . . "real job yet" . . . "something called a career" . . . "unlike you, I actually have a home" . . . these digs make the reader interested to find out why this guy has a bad attitude toward his sister. To be honest, I felt this story did not deliver on that suggestion and I wish it would've. Instead it felt like the narrator got hooked on his "blonde" story & forgot all about his sister being the recipient of this letter. I love the "blonde" story & it's being told with much dynamic interest, but overall I'm left wondering how this ends . . . it feels incomplete . . . it doesn't answer the question of why does this guy want to rub his sister's nose in this meager "conquest"? I think your story is fine without looping back around to remind the reader that this is a letter to the sister he appears to resent. It's just that I think the brother-sister connection is more compelling than the narrator-blonde story, which is a fine anecdote, but readers want DRAMA & suspense. It could be a quick flippant wrap at the end such as: "Oh nevermind, why am I even telling you this? I know you've probably put this letter down & forgotten it by now!" Or maybe you plan to continue some day (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[MarkAndTheOcean]

Thank you for the feedback! I can see what you mean, I was going for a fun little "slice of life" where it felt like the brother and sister already know each other for their whole lives and that they have a slight emotionally distant relationship, hence the way the writing felt incomplete because I didn't put in more detail about the two, because if they already know each other why would they have to bring up things they already know?
But I do see what you mean, it does feel a bit choppy in the sense that I brushed aside the relationship with the sister for this more fun "blonde story", next time it should have more of a clear focus.