{crickets ... crickets}

A couple from church invited us over for dinner last night, and they were a delight. Not only did they enthusiastically cook a delish tofu dish, but they had traveled to cool places, had interesting books on their bookshelves, and regaled us with stories of winter camping. Oh so cold.

Anyway, at one point the gal was talking about NYU, and why she decided not to go there after all, even though she had started classes. Among other reasons, she said they have people who own student loan companies on their board, which means they raise and raise tuition so they can put more money in their pockets.

"And," she said ominously, "the owner of Penthouse is on their board."

"Oh," said my sweet husband, "you mean so-and-so." As if they were buddies. As if he's known him since grade school.

Apparently, Sam says this person is someone everyone's heard of--a household name, of sorts. It's not like Sam has a subscription--trust me.

But in that moment, before we knew it was a name most people know, sitting on overstuffed couches with our bellies full of tofu and jazz on the ipod and a Book of Mormon on their bookshelf, you could have heard the sigh of a flea.

Oh, it was quiet.

I was dying to say something to smooth that one out. But how do you smooth that one out?

So I laughed. I laughed very hard. And luckily, so did the new friends.

Comments

Kira said…
We love Sam. That reminds me of the first time Lee met your very ex boyfriend. He dropped 2 explitives in one sentence.... didn't you break up shortly after that? Another very quiet moment. Sometimes you just have to love them WITH the quirks.
Alobar said…
Are you sure it was Penthouse and not Hustler? If it was Hustler then yes, Larry Flint is a household name and yes, he was responsible for upholding one of the fundamental constitutions rights (freedom of the press). So even though we may not like the media he chooses, it is important that we have the choice to read it or not. And that is his doing.
Sam Ruddick said…
it's bob guccione. and it's not him, anyway. it's marc bell who's on the board. he's got something to do with penthouse, i'm not sure what, but he also produced august, osage county (a pulitzer prize winning play) and taught graduate courses in business as florida international university, which is a pretty good school. bob guccione was the FOUNDER of penthouse. i guess bell is the current president. anyway, these are guys who made an awful lot of money, so i figured guccione, at least, was famous, in the same sense that lee iacocca is. funny all these named sound italian. i wonder if marc bell's name is really marco bellanini. mafia?
Hilarious!!! Your post has made my day. Nothing like a good belly laugh to smooth things over, eh? (and I'm glad you got to eat tofu :))
Mike and Emily said…
Is penthouse, like, a realty company?

tee hee. just kiddin. I know it's an architecture magazine...
eden said…
that is so funny.

so, so, so funny.
Amara said…
Sam should have said he HAS known him since grade school and has worked with him on a number of important projects. It's all silly.

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