Me Charming the Unsuitable

The other night while I was standing in line for the McMurtry show next to an older gentleman the label leaflet guy gave us a flyer for the forthcoming Justin Townes Earle show, (I got the same one at the DBT show-guess I must be their target audience). He expressed surprise that Steve Earle could have a son of that age and I reminded him that Steve Earle is plenty old enough for that especially considering he's been married what? Five times now? One of this gentleman's dates (he had 2) laughed and told me the problem stemmed from him not fully acknowledging or accepting his own age. He nodded ruefully then said he thought he had a redneck gene since he liked Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and, of course, James McMurtry. I pointed to his immaculate outfit-jeans with a crease, loafers with no socks and a sportcoat and quipped, "Must be recessive." He was completely charmed by my witticism and might have offered to let me be, Hefner- like, date #3 but for Joe coming back just then from feeding the meter.

This is just the latest example of this sort of thing and I think for optimism's sake I'm going to just think of it as a stellar example of thinking on my feet and having the wit just when I needed it instead of the more troubling possibility-that of only being able to charm men who are aged, live far away or are mentally challenged. Now that would truly be an inconvenient gift.