my six year old

i take my daughter out to lunch. she reads the wine list and remembers fine points of oenology. she enquires about the function of the cork and soon has mastered the fermentation process from the grape to vinegar. she’s sensible in ordering and takes an interest in cuisine. in fact she’s about the only member of the gentler (sic) sex whose conversation i enjoy. for one thing she may be the only girl i know possessed of a genuine intellectual curiosity. and she escapes the tyranny of the obvious. if we are dining at el matador, and i explain the principle of corrida, she doesn’t take the side of the goddam bull. she doesn’t tell me i shouldn’t drink so much. she doesn’t want to marry me. she doesn’t regale me with anecdotes of the office, memorabilia of the student cafeteria. she asks about paris; she asks about rome. she finds the world funny; she finds its words wonderful. We love each other. i think I’ll go see her right now.