Longs ... Lee Cataluna ... and searching for romance
Searching for romance in Longs? Really? Longs may be the first place you think to look for many things, but romance? I decided to give it a shot anyway. My investigation led me to my neighborhood Longs store in the Kaimuki Shopping Center. It also led me to one of my favorite writers.
If I hadn’t asked Lee Cataluna about romance in her book Folks You Meet in Longs (Bamboo Ridge, 2005), I wouldn’t have known that she doesn’t see romance in those monologues of Longs shoppers and employees. Lee told me, “I don't really think of romance when I think about that collection. I think about needs/wants and people going through Longs trying to fulfill their literal needs and thus their deeper needs.”
That's an insightful description of the book. Leave it to me, however, to look for romance in the stories anyway. If we define "romance" here as the ambience or tone of a story when a character is looking for a happy ending that involves making a connection with another person, and if the character must be ready to receive the happy ending, then the Mrs. Longs story appears to meet that definition.
Georgie Kam, the woman in the Mrs. Longs story, dreams of being married to Mr. Longs ("The first one, the first Mr. Longs"). In her dream she lives with him in "one of the Longses, up above the pharmacy," where they can look down on all the Longs shoppers and make sure that everyone is cared for. "We always have Longs. Longs will provide."
Following my definition, the tone of the story is romantic because the woman is searching for a happy ending that means connecting with another person. In this case the other person is Mr. Longs:
Oh look, sweetheart—that's what I call Mr. Longs, I call him sweetheart when we in our upstairs above the pharmacy house, but never when we in the store. When we in the store I call him Mr. Longs just like all his employees.
Finally, the woman in Lee’s story is absolutely ready to receive the happy ending:
And I would be happy. I would never leave the house. No need. Only time I go out now is to go Longs. I would have everything right there. ...
Longs would be like the richest kingdom and Mr. Longs is the wise, noble king, and me, I would be the queen.
The good queen of Longs.
Ready for a happy ending? Isn’t that one of the great motivating factors that leads millions of readers to romance? Not just the straight-ahead-keep-the-spotlight-on-the-romantic-plot kind of romance novel, but also all those novels that add romance to mystery, romance to suspense, romance to history, and on and on. We want a happy ending, or at least a satisfactory ending. We want to root for the protagonists, those heroes and heroines who lead us from page one to the final chapter.
When Lee Cataluna reads the Mrs. Longs story she becomes that character. I remember listening to one of her readings and rooting for the character, liking her immediately for her idealistic view of the humanitarian mission of Longs, and for her pure romantic attraction to Mr. Longs.
If I hadn’t been rereading Folks You Meet in Longs, I probably wouldn't have found myself at Kaimuki Longs on a Friday evening, searching for signs of romance. Okay, it’s too brightly lit for true romance, but the lighting made it easier to see the romance novels in the front of the store. I picked up three of them for closer inspection. (Here's a word of advice, in advance—never overlook the fun factor in romances, including reading the covers.)
Slow Burn, by Julie Garwood, announced on the front cover that "Every fire begins with a little heat—" and on the back cover "an electrifying novel of romantic suspense that will have readers burning through the pages." That sounded a little too dangerous, as if the book should come with oven mitts. On the other hand, Slow Burn would be entirely appropriate reading for a romantic pyromaniac.
By comparison, the second one I picked up looked rather tame—a Julia Quinn historical romance with the title What Happens In London. I'm betting on a sequel next year called Stays In London.
Finally, with the third book I inspected at Kaimuki Longs, I hit the paranormal romance jackpot. Deadly Desire, by Keri Arthur, featured this irresistible tagline on the cover: "She's part wolf, part vampire, all woman—and she never says no to . . . Deadly Desire."
Okay, try to picture me standing there next to the checkout counters at Kaimuki Longs, reading the Deadly Desire cover, not knowing whether to laugh or to drop the book and run terrified into the night. No, I didn't laugh, and I did decide to stay in Longs, which seemed much safer than the darkness outside. After all, she might be out there—part wolf, part vampire, all woman—waiting to do unspeakable things to my body.
I retreated into the middle of Longs, wandering into an aisle with boxes of chocolate, then an aisle of scented candles, and then an aisle with new slippers (what other Hawaii gift is such a down-to-earth statement of love?).
It quickly became apparent that although I might not find romance under the bright lights of Longs, surely I had found a one-stop place to acquire some excellent accessories for an evening of romance, preferably with someone who is not part wolf and part vampire.
Tags: Folks You Meet in Longs, Lee Cataluna, Longs, Romance
