The Eavesdropper - - A Report From the Harvard Coop

Saturday evening I bought a couple of books and sat down for a quick dinner at the Harvard Coop book store at Harvard Square. Locals call this place "The Coop" (pronunced like "chicken coop"). It is a place like The Tattered Cover in Denver, where people gather to browse and read - - and especially at The Coop look smart, read books but, but be sure to look smart while reading the books. There are four floors at The Coop, one floor below ground level, the main floor at ground level that has an open view of the second and third floors above it. The second and third floors are accessed by an open, half-spiral staircase at the end of the floors opposite the entrance. On the second and third floors the central area is empty, on the sides there are narrow passages with shelves built into the walls, and on the ends there are more book shelves - - from the second and third floors one can look down on the main floor. The Coop Cafe is located beyond the staircase on the second floor. After I bought my books, I went to the Coop Cafe, a couple occupying two small tables was preparing to leave, and I took one of their tables as the couple left. When I retuned after paying for my food and books, a new couple had occupied the small table to my immediate right. I took my seat, with my back to the wall. The woman was seated adjacent to me. The man was standing. These two seemed to be in their 30s. He wore glases, was a bit thick about the waste, had a little gray in his hair. The woman wore no glasses, had brunette hair that went past her shoulders, and for reading materials she had selected a large book titled "1491" and an edition of Oprah Winfrey's magazine. Neither one of them wore a wedding band. The man began speaking to her in a somewhat hushed tone, spaaking with a cadence and deliberation suggesting he was wrestling with some challenging subject that required painstaking thought, and the most precise choice and use of words. This is the gist of the conversation I overheard. Man: I've finally figured it out. Gwyneth Paltrow . . . She would not be someone's first choice, she would maybe be someone's second choice . . . It is her face . . . She looks . . . desperate . . . Woman: (after a pause) She has sad eyes . . . Man: It is that the more homely a woman is, the more attractive she is . . . But also, the more monstrous a woman is, the more attractive she is . . . Woman: (after a long pause) This conversation is really putting me off . . . Man: That's right . . . You're concerned with the entire objectification of women . . . (man walks off to get some drinks) Woman: (after a pause, under her breath, speaks to herself in exasperation) Crazy!