6. Russell Square
I sat outside at the back of the museum and looked through the TimeOut to find a movie. There was one playing near Russell Square so I went there. I though that if I sat in Russell Square I might be able to see the theater and there was plenty of time, so I took out a cigarette. I looked around. This, I thought, is what London is like. I t was quite different from Central Park. Russell Square is tiny by comparison but somehow wilder. Maybe it’s the overcast sky or maybe it’s because I’m not used to British gardening techniques. Whatever it is I think the strange panic that I had been carrying in the small of my back lifted. “I’m here,” I thought. “I survived.”
I pulled the lighter from my pocket and flicked it. Two puffs and inhale.
“Pardon me,” a voice cam from over my shoulder. I turned to see a man wearing a gray T-Shirt that barely covered his protruding stomach. He was holding out a 20p piece with one hand and making the international sign for smoking with the other. “Do you Mind?” he asked as he sat down beside me. “You see I don’t usually smoke. It’s just that I’ve just had a bottle of wine.”
“Not at all.” I replied, and fished out a cigarette from my bag. I motioned away the coin but he insisted. I handed him the tiny lighter. It was running low and he was having trouble.
“It seems to be spent.” He said. “ Could I…” and he pointed to my cigarette hots.
“Oh, of course,” I said and I pressed my cigarette’s end against his awkwardly until smoke was bellowing satisfactorily from both.
“Thank you very much, you see, as I said before, I don’t usually smoke except when I’m drinking and I just had this bottle of wine. I get so terribly depressed you see.”
“Not a problem,” I said. “What was your name?”
“Oh, I’m Paul.”
“Nice to meet you Paul you, I’m Ian.” I reached out and shook his stubby hand.
“Likewise and thank you. I get so depressed you see. All the mistakes. The memories of all the mistakes.” I nodded with half understanding and half behavior copied from characters in movies. I wanted to say something encouraging, to give him advice that would solve his problems. But I was scared and in a foreign country and talking, I suddenly realized, to another human being. Really talking, for the first time since getting on the plane. I just nodded.
“Did you grow up here?” I eventually asked. “…In London?”
“Oh, no. The midlands. Nottinghamshire.” I nodded some more.
“Oh really. Is that a good place to go visit?”
“Erm… yes. There’s lots of historical things and the forest is nice. You know Robin Hood?”
“Yes, I know a bit about him.”
“Well that’s there, Sherwood Forest, Nottingham. You know. Well legend a lot of it, but there’s history to it as well.” I wanted to tell him that I thought legend is more important than fact when history is concerned. Instead I nodded.
“Yes, then you know Richard, King Richard the first. They called him Richard the Lionhearted.
“Yes”
“Richard… King Richard was off on the crusades you see, and his brother erm… what’s his name?
“John, Prince John,” I offered
“Oh yes, John--Prince John they called him, took over and he was not very good. Sheriff of Nottingham and taxes and all that.”
I almost brought up the Magna Carta but decided against it.
He asked where I was from and everything to him was “amazing”. Detroit is the “car place”—Amazing.
Washington is a state and Washington D.C. is a city—Amazing. D.C stands for District of Columbia? —Amazing.
He mentioned being in a pop band in the sixties. He played bass. The conversation turned to a detailed biography of Eric Clapton who was a guitar player who was amazing.
And then by chance, Paul asked: “Do you like the movies then?” And I told him I was in London to study film.
“That’s Amazing!” Do you know Alfred Hitchcock?” I explained that I did. I had recently taken a class on his films.
“I like some of his films.” And we proceeded to go though the Hitchcock cannon. He liked Psycho but not North by Northwest or Rear Window. He didn’t remember Strangers on a Train and I couldn’t remember that it was Farley Granger who played Guy.
He then thoroughly questioned me about Psycho and for the next hour, I kept passing him cigarettes and he kept giving me change. (I ended up with about one pound twenty). And he and I recalled every detail of Psycho—the motivation for every action in more or less chronological order. When we got to the end he said, “Yes. ‘I wouldn’t hurt a fly.’ He says that, doesn’t he?”
Paul Stood up and said. “I don’t know about you but my bladder is full. Wait here and I know a place around the corner where we can get a bottle of…”
“Oh, I have an appointment at 6:00,” I lied.
“All right then. Sorry to be keeping you.”
“Not at all. I had fun.”
“Well then, let me just tell you that I can tell you are very smart and I can tell you are going to go far.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“So, you’ll just wait here and I’ll go…”
“Sorry, but I’ve…”
“Oh right. You’ve got to go. Good luck then.”
“Good luck.” I said and he was gone.
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6 comments:
Your idea that "legend is more important than fact when history is concerned" is really interesting. How do you mean?
In class tonight we were talking about how powerful metaphor is. Specifically, we were talking about how, biologically, race does not exist. And yet race, for not "really" existing, has and does mean a great deal. So, if you will, the "legend" that there is a distinction between races is more important, historically, than the scientific "fact" that race does not exist. I'm sure this isn't really where you were going, but it's interesting to think about the role legends/stories/beliefs play.
I'm intrigued, but it's odd to become entangled in a discussion with something you wrote a good while ago.
I could probably discuss legend being more important than fact all day but in a nutshell: People believe legends and their belief makes them do things (or as I am beginning to understand belief *is* doing things) I first was obsessed with this idea in Roman History class my freshman year of college where in the beginning we learned about all of the legends concerning the founding of Rome and how we'll probably never know who really started Rome and how it's probably a moot point because little Roman kids were all told some twins raised by a she-wolf were responsible for it all. Then at the end of class when we learned about the spread of Christianity throughout Rome the professor made a little speech about how in the class we weren't going to discuss the veracity of Jesus or his divinity but the affects of what he said. I'm not calling Jesus a legend though he is most certainly legendary, in fact the perfect legend, the perfect story.
Also a Legend tells us what people want to believe. Whether or not there was a Robin Hood and whether or not he wore green tights we have this hero figure who fights against societal imbalance. How different is he from a Greco Roman hero who is good at killing Monsters?
Agreed. What frightens me, though, is the idea that belief can influence behavior regardless of its truth. I would much prefer to think that truth is what has the most power. However, I suppose I would counter that idea by pointing out that legends certainly have a value of truth. Perhaps I am confusing fact and truth, when truth can certainly be expressed without fact (in stories, fiction, legend). At the same time, people do carry out strong actions according to beliefs which are definitely wrong. Already this semester I'm getting hit with a good dose of how terribly people treat one another.
You touched on another idea I've been thinking about lately when you say "belief *is* doing things." Dale's definition of faith is "doing what you're told," and he talked a lot about that last Tuesday. He talked about it in terms of the last portion of the sermon on the mount, where Jesus says if we hear His words and don't do them, then they are worthless. The other point was authority (which is where the telling comes in), and that connected to the story of the centurian whose faith astonished Jesus.
Why did you lie about having an appointment? Were you just done talking with this guy? Did you like talking to him? Was he freaky, kind of?
Rachel: I was getting the feeling that I was being hit on and didn't want to find out for sure. He really wasn't my type.
Lisa: I think that Legend have more capacity for truth than a lot of what we consider to be facts. The truths revealed to my by Robin Hood, Moby Dick and Jesus's parables carry much more weight than whether or not Mozarts skull has been discovered or Evolution (something that I often think is probably fact, but something in which few people have found much truth)
what fun.
I haven't even read the post yet, just the comments, but I love what you (Ian) said about Evolution. That snapped something good in me, for some reason...
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