Making Friends by Joy Williams, 1981
The magic trick:
Letting us hang out with characters in an interesting situation, rather than relying on a fast-moving plot to hold our interest
This is a very special story. It doesn’t necessarily have a memorable angle to play. And the plot won’t really interest you particularly. But wow what a story for sticking in your brain to the point where it blurs with your real memories and gets confused as possibly real people you actually met once a long time ago.
Obviously, there is true magic in the way Joy Williams portrays the three characters here. The way they think is unique. The way they talk is amazing.
But I think the overarching magic here is trusting the plot to not have to do much work. The premise is enough to grab the reader’s attention – our protagonists are squatting in a wealthy neighborhood and have befriended the community security guard. From there, not much happens really, which allows our focus to just be hanging out in the scene and taking in the characters without distraction.
It’s a bold move by the author but one that definitely works.
And that’s quite a trick on Williams’s part.
The selection:
“If I were young, I wouldn’t be here,” the guard said. “The big show is definitely not way out here.’’
“The big show is in our heads,’’ Willie said. Willie and the guard got along famously.
In the house, Clem was lying before the sliding glass doors, his breath making small parachuting souls on the glass. Clem was Liberty’s dog, a big white Alsatian with one blind eye. His good eye was open, watching his vacation.
The guard said, “You know, I’ll tell you, my name is Turnupseed.”
“Glad to know you,” Willie said.
“That name mean nothing to you?”
“I don’t believe it does,” Willie said.
The guard shook his head back and forth, back and forth.
“How quickly they forget,’’ he said to an imaginary person on his right.
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