It Chooses You - Miranda July [8]
Miranda:
So it’s your suitcase that you’re selling through the PennySaver?
Pauline:
The suitcase? Oh, yes, I have it in the hallway. Do you want to see it?
Miranda:
Maybe we should see it.
Pauline:
Of course, that’s what you came for.
I nodded but shrugged, to suggest that my reasons for coming were ever-evolving and expanding.
Miranda:
Why are you selling it?
Pauline:
Well, when my daughter and grandson moved in, a lot of things had to be sold. She said, “Where are you going to make room for my stuff?” So I had to get rid of a lot of my books and condense everything. I’ve sold sheets – bedsheets – and mattresses. I’ve sold paintings. What else did I sell? The bed.
Miranda:
How do you place the ads? Do you have a computer?
Pauline:
I call it in. I write up an ad – there’s a special way of doing it, you get only so many words. The PennySaver will advertise your item for free if it’s under a hundred dollars. So that’s a big boost. But to sell one item at a time, it takes forever.
Miranda:
And so when did your daughter and grandson move in?
Pauline:
About two or three years already. Or four?
Raymond:
Seven years.
This was Pauline’s grandson – he had appeared out of nowhere. He was in his mid-thirties and wore a hearing aid. A very skinny dog wearing a striped rugby shirt followed him into the room.
Pauline:
Seven years? You’re joking. Oh, no. Where has the time gone?
Raymond:
I started working a year later.
Miranda:
Where do you work?
Raymond:
I’m a driver for a company. I deliver mannequins.
Miranda:
You deliver mannequins?
Pauline:
Naked mannequins.
Miranda:
Naked ones. And what company is that?
Raymond:
United Galleria. We make them, we sell them, and we rent them. And repair them.
Pauline:
He’s met a few people, too, haven’t you?
Raymond:
I’ve met a lot of people.
Pauline:
Celebrities.
Raymond:
Not very many.
Pauline:
You could name a few.
Raymond:
I’ve met a few. Cameron Diaz – I met her, and Mark Jenkins.
Miranda:
Neat. Do you have any pictures of you with mannequins?
Raymond:
I have a mannequin upstairs.
Miranda:
Okay, maybe we’ll go up there.
Raymond:
I can bring it down.
Miranda:
We can go up there. I don’t want you to have to bring it down.
As we climbed the stairs, I began to realize the grandeur of the house was an illusion. These were the poor relations of the former owner. The mother and grandson both kept food and small refrigerators in their rooms, living in them like tiny studio apartments with a shared kitchen and bathroom. Before we looked at the mannequin, Raymond showed me a picture of himself with the actress Elizabeth Hendrickson from All My Children.
Raymond:
I met her at Disneyland. We had to get in line and we had to wait two hours.
Miranda:
What is she like? What do you like about her?
Raymond:
She’s friendly. And she’s beautiful, she’s pretty.
Then he showed me the mannequin. It looked just like Elizabeth Hendrickson.
Miranda:
So this – I mean, it kind of looks like her. Why does it look so much like her?
Raymond:
I took this from this picture here.
Miranda:
So did you make her face?
Raymond:
My boss.
Miranda:
Oh, your boss.
Raymond:
Yeah, he made her.
Miranda:
From the picture. And did he do that just for you?
Raymond:
Yeah.
Miranda:
Oh, that’s nice.
Raymond:
He put it in the mold.
Miranda:
Is that expensive? I mean, did you have to buy that?
Raymond:
If a regular person would buy it, it would probably be about fifteen hundred dollars. He gave me a discount.
Miranda:
I see you have two computers. What do you do on your computers?
Raymond:
I email. I email my friends. Sometimes I email my sister if I have a question. And I download music.
Miranda:
What kind of music?
Raymond:
Dido.
Miranda:
She’s cool.
Raymond:
It’s too bad Michael Jackson passed away.
Miranda:
Yeah.
Raymond:
I’m heartbroken