The Actress

Sunday, I took my youngest daughter for a manicure at a nail salon not far from our house in Studio City. While I was still in the chair, a woman who was somewhere around 40 years old came in. She was tall, slender, big breasts. Her nose job was obvious. She had high, apple cheeks, long dark hair. She was very talkative.

She sauntered in and admired the sandals worn by another customer. "I love your shoes," she said. "They look so comfortable. I could see myself wearing them. I am very particular about my shoes, being a dancer, and all." At that point, she stood on her toes, her exposed calves firmly flexing as she reached up.

She sat in the chair next to mine. She brought three fashion magazines with her. "I certainly hope I do not end up like her," she said pointing to a picture of Paris Hilton. "Can you believe it. You would think she would know better. . ." She starting going on about Paris Hilton, Paris Hilton's legal problems, and Paris Hilton + Nicole Richie but I had a difficult time following her. "I don't really know much about the details of what happened," I admitted.

After a few moments, I received a call from G. When I hung up the phone the lady next who clearly was eavesdropping on my conversation, asked, "Who is G.?" I explained to her that G. is the lady taking care of my father-in-law while the rest of the family is back east for my neices graduation from college.

"It's nice to have family," she said. She continued to chat at me. I learned that she is a single mother. Her husband is an actor who has remarried and started another family, much to the dismay of her sons, ages 13 and 17. The 13 year old is going to a home school at a neighbor's house which is working out for him because he was not functioning well in a regular class room setting. Her older son goes to a school in West LA because he has problems with audio-visual processing, but who knows what will happen when he is 18. She is an actress who just did two small films -- not SAG. She had to do her own makeup for one of them, but that is not such a bad thing. That evening she had a dinner meeting. Who sets a dinner meeting for Sunday night? She did not now know, but it was her obligation to go. Leafing through the fashion magazine, she could not believe that someone would pay $6,000 for a dress, but she believed if she could, she might. Her sons love each other a lot and she does the best she can as a single mom, although she may have to go back to al-anon.