“Youdresslike a different time.”
Thelma delicately wiped her fingers on a cloth napkin. “Wait until you hear my Katharine Hepburn impression.”
“I don’t know enough about her to say if it’s good or not.”
“Whaaat? Really? But she’s perfect!”
“Can’t say I’ve ever seen any of her movies. I think.”
Thelma folded her arms on the table after pushing aside her (definitely Fiesta) plate. “Do you have that application on yourTV? My family has one currently, though I’m not very good at using it. The one with all the movies. You just push the buttons and make movies appear.”
“You mean Netflix?”
“Yes! That’s what it’s called!”
“Sure. Why?”
“There must be a Katharine Hepburn movie on there. You have to watch it. The woman is a homo…” She course-corrected. “A ‘queer’ awakening.”
“Let me guess. You and Sandy watched a lot of her movies.”
“In the theater, no less. Some very good dates were had watching her and Spencer Tracy try not to act like they had the greatest chemistry both on and off the screen. Although I always preferred her screwballs with Cary Grant.Bringing Up BabyandThe Philadelphia Storyare classics. I don’t care what people say. The story with the tiger is good! I still don’t know why it bombed. I made my mom take me to see it at least…”
“At least fifty times? Yeah, we had one of those theaters that showed old movies when I was a kid. I kinda had a crush on Doris Day.”
“Calamity JaneandThe Man Who Knew Too Much?”
“More likePillow Talk.I mostly know her early ‘60s stuff.”
Great.All Thelma knew about the ‘60s was JFK, MLK, and Neil Armstrong.If Doris Day didn’t become president, go to the moon, or be assassinated, I know nothing about it.
“My friend Sandy really loved Audrey Hepburn,” Thelma said to change the subject.
“You mean your girlfriend Sandy?”
Thelma had to think about that. “Believe it or not, I never thought of her that way.”
“Really?”
“It just wasn’t an option.”
Gretchen paused eating long enough to contemplate that as well. “I get what you mean. I’m in my thirties, but still getting used to the idea that I can just… have a girlfriend. Get married to another woman. All of that happened in our lifetimes, but I’m sure you remember a time before that being a possibility.”
Thelma bit her tongue on that one.You have no idea.“If I had another daughter, I would name her Katharine. But maybe I’d name her Audrey now, for Sandy.”
“Those are both good names. Very Hepburn. Hey, were they related?”
She’s kidding!“No.”
“After this…” Gretchen’s valiant ability to maintain eye contact despite how terribly difficult it was did not go unnoticed. “Let’s go watch a movie.Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Did Gretchen notice how difficult it was for Thelma to keep smiling despite her inability to understand half of what her date said? “You mean like that book?” There had been buzz about the author’s upcoming book when Thelma left home, but she had never read any of his works before.He must have become quite famous if he had movies made after his stuff.
“I guess it was a book first, huh? Truman Capote? That can’t be right…”
“Yes! Him!”
“Right. Harper Lee’s childhood best friend. Yes. I remember that from English class.”
