There have to be more of us out there.
There have to be more impatient, have-to-know, desperate-to-find-out-the-end kind of people. Until recently, I thought I was the only one.
Actually, truthfully I didn’t think about it at all, despite the constant appalled looks that came my way every time I told people I read ahead in books and like to know how movies end.
And then my axis shifted.
I don’t know how the conversation started. Come to think about it, how do most conversations with hairdressers start?
Well usually, while they cut, we unload. I think hairdressers should have a one-year degree in cutting and a six-year degree in psychology. Certainly they are the best listeners I have ever come across and (even with a colour and/or medicare rebate) they are probably the cheapest. (Good advice would be to always have a haircut on RUOK?Day)
Every now and then, the conversation might pause while I reflect on what I have just revealed and on how I really should let her concentrate on making me look okay.
But then the brain goes into autopilot and those secrets come pouring out. It should be no surprise that this is the place I found a literary clone.
My hairdresser has probably heard all the possible stories and can most likely predict most endings.
So why shouldn’t she be any different when it comes to books and movies?
I was telling her how I always read ahead. I read ahead when a new character is introduced, when the plotline goes on a new angle, when a murder is committed, a romance starts.
I can’t wait to know. First I read the end for that happy-ever-after moment, but sometimes that doesn’t help at all. So you plough ahead to see if this is a short term or long term plot change or character, before going back for the detail.
My hairdresser briefly paused with the scissors, waving them about a bit (in a slightly disturbing way) and told me, with passion, that she too liked to know.
It was a moment.
And of course this moment led to more moments about authors and great endings and great beginnings.
Here is someone I could start a book club with. I’d even open it up to movie goers who know the twists before they occur. Perhaps I could call the club No Surprises.
It would have to be filled with people who like to know how things finish, just in case we feel the need to share.
