Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Mira graduates from grad school and is juggling four freelance jobs, spending most of her time at home in her pajamas. She finally gets an offer to help write a book for a woman who is from “one of the original founding families” (188). When Mira arrives at Bree’s apartment, she finds Bree is extremely rich. Mira feels moderately intimidated but holds her ground well. Bree does not expect Mira to be Indian, but says she is glad for it because Mira will bring spirituality to the project. She hopes to create a trilogy and miniseries about the history of her family and needs Mira to finesse it. Mira lands the position, although she still is not quite sure what the book will be about. Bree sends Mira home with a box of research, and when Mira and Jed open the box later, they find a pamphlet, a few magazines, and a photograph. Neither of them can believe how undeveloped Bree’s idea is. Mira is ready to give up but instead decides to try and let Bree free associate some information for a couple of scene ideas. Bree talks about how her family was “so smart [they] had to marry [their] cousins because no one else understood [them]” (196) and explains that she envisions a male main character. This is not much to go by, but Mira manages to create a scene in a tavern and another at a festival, and Bree is impressed with her work. She tells Mira she can stay at her apartment any time. When Mira goes back the next week, Bree makes the comment that people need to “get used to” (203) the idea of having people of different ethnicities in their midst. Mira disregards the comment but can sense Bree was not being sincere the previous time they met.

On their third meeting, Bree explains that she is uncomfortable with Mira and the whole arrangement. She tells Mira, “I feel like you’re taking advantage of me. My ideas. My work. I feel like you’re using them without really asking my permission” (208). Bree seems to see Mira as a threat and takes any opportunity to blame her for something. She constantly insists that Mira must only be half-Indian and starving, and when Mira hears Bree talk about her suspicions, she wants to scream at her. She worries, however, that doing so will only prove Bree’s suspicions right, thus she is trapped. Bree has a sudden and unusual change of tone when she then asks Mira out to lunch. Mira obliges only because she wants to get something out of Bree, but when they get there Bree explains that her two-year-old daughter died of cancer, and she had to watch her die. She has a deep pain inside her and feels as if she needs a reason to live. Mira describes her emotions in this moment: “You look right at her and shut your eyes, as if she is made of sun” (213). The intensity of Bree’s honesty and pain is too much for Mira, and she decides she cannot work for Bree any longer. When Z turns two, Mira thinks about Bree and worries she may lose her son as some form of punishment for refusing to look at Bree for who she is despite Bree’s failure to do the same.