5 april 2004
I'm on the airplane waiting to go to Zurich & this morning Momma saw me off to the airport shuttle-bus at 7:30 AM & we both cried & hugged because you do, sometimes, with your mother. And then there I am sobbing with some slight restraint on the bus, blackening a Kleenex with streams of mascara, and these Texan businessmen are sitting across from me, sideways in their seats so it feels like they're looking straight at me, and talking about their financial brokerage jobs, and then out of the blue one guy says to the other, "The thing about these Italian girls and women, is that they don't carry any body fat. I mean, there are girls and women in the United States that stay in shape, you know, but it doesn't look natural. But these Italian girls and women, if you could sell that you could make a lot of money worldwide." The other one agreed: "You could just name your price," he said. Then, they started talking about something else.