Jessica who? June 1, 1985
So, what do we know about Jessica anyway – the woman that has dragged Pauly over hot coals?
First, we know
she is 22 years old, the same age as Suzanne when I first met her at college
five years ago. The same age as Fran, when I met her a few years later. The
same age as Louise when Louise and I broke up well over a decade ago.
Maybe there is
something about that age that is significant, something that causes a disruption
in our lives, full of decision and pain.
We know Jessica
is pretty – not quite beautiful. Her mouth is a little too wide, and she lacks
the petiteness so popular with Madison Avenue advertisements.
While she may
never get fat, she has big bones. She will always stand out in the crowd.
She is
dominant: a fault and an attribute. She does not seem to function well in an
emotional or confused state.
But she has a
lot of Gaul, like many people her age, assumes she knows it all or has a
comment on any subject broached.
She reminds a
lot of Pauly during his younger days when he could twist facts and figures into
making any argument he wanted or needs to verify his arguments.
Unfortunately,
Jessica lacks the talent to twist facts the way Pauly could, and often contradicts
herself.
She is very
materialistic, and Pauly, during our conversations, has tried to defend her.
“She has to
look out for herself, you know,” he tells me.
Her attitude
irritates me. She seems to care about nothing except for herself.
This week her store
reported a disaster when decided to go to lunch rather than wait for the truck
to make deliveries, screwing up orders for two days, leaving gentlemen Tony to
handle the customers’ complaints when the rolls they dropped off for
development weren’t picked up and the pictures they expected to pick up were
delayed.
She flatly says
she doesn’t care.
Bob, the area
manager, said he might have to fire her, Pauly or no Pauly.
It’s difficult
to see how her attitude will benefit her as she gets older. It really hasn’t
worked that well for Pauly, who people tend to love or hate or both at the same
time.
I don’t know
what she really wants. She said she wants to work in design. While she has
talent as an artist, it’s hard to imagine her starving on her way to fame, the
way Pauly has. She wants everything up
front. She has ability, but no vision.
She has four
years of college under her belt but looks to go back to some film company which
is more assembly line than creative, and she going through the motions like a robot.
I keep thinking
she needs a lesson in humility, something that might shock her into some new way
of thinking. I suspect it may never happen.
Pauly says she’ll
grow out of it, and claims she’s suffered a lot over the last few months.
He sees things
in her I don’t. Jessica is not Jane. She has neither Jane’s heart or brain, and
as far as I can see, Jessica is doomed to a life of misery and disappointment,
and perhaps won’t even know she’s ruined her life until it’s too late.
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