i'm late. random house fired dick atkins. good riddance. murray chilton died. which makes one less person i'm not speaking to -- vince got a great review. he'll be insufferable. tonight, pen dinner --
you promised.
i know i know i know.
what's my car number?
are you an idiot? of course i need a car. god!
taxi! taxi! taxi!
excuse me -- what are you doing? this is my taxicab. don't take him. i am telling you right now, and i am memorizing your number, don't take him. who the fuck do you think you are?
yes.
veronica, it's patricia, you should have been there, it was unbelievable, we're going to sell truckloads of your book. call me.
yes.
oh, my god, i said fuck to a rabbi. i'm sorry.
yes.
i'm not really religious.
you're kidding, right?
goodbye.
would you get me another drink, sweetie? i'm all out. so then the rabbi says, "it's a very good place to calm down." isn't that hysterical?
i use a wonderful over-the-counter drug, ultrasom. don't take the whole thing, just half, and you will wake up without even that tiniest hangover. you're frank navasky, aren't you?
your last piece in the independent, the one about anthony powell, was brilliant. i'm patricia eden, eden books. joe, this man is the greatest living expert on julius and ethel rosenberg --
you know what's always fascinated me about julius and ethel rosenberg is how old they looked when they were really just our age.
i'm so happy to have finally met you. we will talk. have you ever thought about doing a book?
i had no idea that frank navasky was so down-to-earth.
you read his stuff, you think he's going to be so obscure and abstruse.
look what i bought.
i was just passing this store on columbus avenue and it caught my eye.
a menorah.
i know. i don't know what came over me. i don't even celebrate hanukkah.
so i said to her, "if you think i will even talk to you about paying that kind of advance for an author whose last book is being used as trivets all over the world, you are completely crazy."
what i was thinking was she'd probably make a great children's book either.
she knows everything. she has flawless taste. she's famous for it. the salesmen swear by her. if she likes it, it sells. period.
why not? what else has she got to do?
thanks to you.
why not?
thanks to you.
last time, we rode in an elevator, we made the deal of the century. what is going to happen this time?
i love how you've totally forgotten you had any role in her current situation. it's so obtuse. it reminds me of someone .  who? who does it remind me of? me!
shit.
really.
-- and if you don't get your ass up here in two shakes and get us out --
what?
maybe you can make up on rosie. that would be so great for the book.
if i ever get out of here, i'm having my eyes lasered.
where is my tictacs? what?