Interview

She was the most coolly elegant woman I’d ever met – and frankly, I was terrified of her. She sat across from me on the other side of a low table in the hotel foyer. Her signature jet black hair tumbled over her shoulders, and she fixed me with her exquisitely made-up eyes. The dark brown orbs seemed to drink me in while also asking what the hell someone like me was doing here.

“Hello darling,” her voice was unusually deep for a woman, just like her singing voice. “Call me Carolyn, please”.

“Hamish,” I said, taking her proffered hand, which she quickly withdrew as soon as my fingers brushed hers.

“Well, Hamish. This is nice,” she smiled her famous enigmatic smile.

She was dressed in a knee-length black dress with a string of white pearls around her neck, accentuating a hint of cleavage. Her legs were crossed, left over right, with the toe of her black high-heeled shoe pointing directly at me like a deadly weapon. Those heels are lethal weapons. I knew that meant something in body language, but I couldn’t remember what exactly.

“Tell me, Hamish,” I loved the way she said my name. “Have you been to any of my concerts or TV shows?”

I swallowed before answering. “No, but I did catch your book tour in San Francisco in December.”

“Ah, at the Golden Gate Theatre,” she nodded. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes, I did. Thanks. You were great, as usual”. She must think me a complete idiot. I could see she was not impressed with my Marks and Spencer jeans, light blue shirt, and my faithful old vintage leather jacket.

“Have you seen any of my movies?” I had, more than once.

“Yes.”

“And what did you think?” She moved her head slightly to look more directly into my eyes. She thinks I’m flattering her like those ridiculously sycophantic showbiz interviewers.

“I think you have a rare talent. When you sing, you really put your heart into it. The sincerity comes through, and it’s the same for your acting. Hence the Oscar, well deserved if I may say so”. I could see she liked this, and I had the impression that I might have passed some sort of test.

“Can I just call you ‘babe’, as everyone else does?”

She laughed. “So that’s how it is. You don’t know me well enough.”

I waited for the “yet,” but it didn’t come.

“Of course, you must be used to that sort of thing,” I ventured. How could any red-blooded male know her and not fall in love?”

“I wouldn’t quite put it like that. But it’s okay,” she laughed again. I think the ice is broken.

I wondered again why she had agreed to this meeting—an incoherent request from an unknown, wannabe writer to her manager. Lucky to be here, I guess.

“I want to write about you,” I ventured.

“I’m already working on my memoirs,” she paused, adding, “As you know.”

“Yes, and it’s great. Reading it is fantastic preparation for what I want to do. But I want to go deeper to the real woman behind the mask, under the glamour and glitz. Reach the child within.”

She looked at me sharply. “Wow, that sounds dangerous. I’d better watch out.” She laughed.

“You’ll have full editorial control. If you don’t like something, it won’t go in.” I knew she had already felt betrayed by others in the past. It won’t happen with me, babe.

She looked at me doubtfully. “What if we disagree?”

“I may try to persuade you, but you’ll have the final say. That will be in the contract.”

“What if I just don’t like your writing?” She was looking at me intensely now.

“You’ll have the final word. I promise.”

She was silent, then took her phone out of her gold lame handbag and pressed it a couple of times.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she said finally. “Now I have to go.”

From where I sat, I had seen the Rolls-Royce pull up outside the hotel. The driver got out, checked his watch, and came into the lobby. He exchanged a word with the hotel manager, who had been hovering near the reception desk, and came over to us. It seemed the meeting was over. She stood and held out her hand.

“It was lovely meeting you. Send everything to my manager’s email.”

I leapt up to shake her hand, resisting the temptation to kiss it. I watched her go with a sinking feeling. They went out through the glass doors. The driver held the car door open for her, then he got in, and the car glided noiselessly out of sight. They were gone.