Kerin Cytter and
John Roebas at
Malraux’s Place, New York
Press Release:
A Quick Novel
As
the baby crawls under a towel that had been dropped upon it by the old
man, accidentally, it must have been, for he did not have wrinkles
around his eyes from suppressing a smile, more a slack face, slightly
parted lips, tan cheeks and glasses which magnified his dull expression,
the baby’s parents are having a slightly stressed out conversation at a
short distance on the small lawn surrounded by a chain link fence in
back of the house where the old man had raised the baby’s father, on
Long Island. The rental car had been scratched. The baby emerges from
under the towel and smiles really big, because babies when feeling well
enough themselves are capable of at least trying to diffuse a situation
with a good attitude. What do you think you were like as a baby?
In
sixth grade in the mid-90s, a Chinese-American boy, whose parents are
scientists who study fruit flies, offers his friend a piece of Chinese
rock sugar. She has a shameful addiction to candy. She eats it and
really enjoys it and he says, well, if you bring me a dollar fifty I can
get you a whole bag. This was not the kind of candy she could get at
her local Walgreens. She brings him the cash, and because he trusted her
he had already brought the huge bag of clear rocks of sugar, which are
totally pure with no flavor other than sugar. She knew this was nice of
him to do, but she paid for it so at least it wasn’t a present. She
keeps it in her locker and eats from it throughout the day for weeks
until it’s all gone. It was against the rules to eat in the hallways at
school, but the candy was clear so it didn’t dye her mouth. Candy to a
kid is pure pleasure, and she was afraid of her uncontrollable desire
for it. Is there a distinction between doing something illegal and
feeling a personal compulsion to do so?
The
restaurant owner told the manager that the waitresses needed to wipe
down the bases of the tables at the end of each shift. Always, whatever
the list of required tasks was at the beginning of a job, there are new
ones to be added as bosses become worried that the employees have grown
complacent as they get better and therefore faster at whatever they’d
originally been assigned to do. So the manager tells the waitress to get
down on her knees and scrub the black metal feet. While halfheartedly
rubbing back and forth, the waitress notices that some customer stuck
gum on the bottom of the table. It’s in her nature to become obsessed by
something like this. It’s true that the restaurant uses cloth napkins,
so the patron would have had to ask for a piece of paper, or find one,
or put the gum on the side of his plate. It makes sense to put gum on
the bottom of a school desk, but doing it in a restaurant seems to be
evidence of pure evil. Research has shown that children who torture
animals and wet the bed are more likely to grow up to be serial killers,
but it’s harder to pin down what more disturbing behavior leaving gum
behind for an underling predicts. Insulting a wife’s looks? The waitress
does not remove the gum and the boss forgets to ever again enforce the
execution of the new task. Did you know it’s much better to tip in cash?
Okay,
so maybe it’s better really to be very free. To not worry about
pleasing people, or about receiving gifts that create an obligation. Do
something with a friend when it feels natural, put something together.
Not everything has to be some dangerous exchange where you worry about
what’s fair or whether there is a strange power dynamic. Man, woman,
success, age, sometimes the trust is just there and it’s obvious to
everyone who sees it, simply gorgeous. Have you seen the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It?
— Elise Duryee-Browner, 2019