Many months ago, in recalling the events of one night in New York City (January 1996), my husband (Rooster Quibbits) got some important facts wrong. He lied to you (Editor’s note: he didn’t know and would like his wife to stop accusing him of being incompetent once again). He told you that Paul Cartwright and Meredith Wright went to 14th St. and saw a movie at the United Artists Union Square 14. He told you that they sat and watched most of Grumpier Old Men, at Meredith’s insistence. They left while my husband, the liar, sat and watched the rest of the film. Most of these things did happen that night, but not in Union Square, and certainly not at the United Artists Union Square 14—which wasn’t opened until the summer of 1998.
It’s true that we were all there that night: Roo, Benny, and I chaperoned these people through their divine trial. One of our animal runners-up, an old friend from thousands of years ago, was in town to see us. The lycanthrope known as Peter Wolf still doesn’t like to be called a “werewolf,” as he considers it a slur. Already did in 1996. We were guarding the people you’ve been reading about, because we are little angels. NOT CHICKEN WINGS.
My husband incorrectly stated that Paul left Meredith in Union Square in a bout of impatience, eager not to miss his chance to get into the Smashing Pumpkins show. He never detailed their exchange, nor how either of them got uptown to their respective final destinations. Meredith kissed Paul outside of The Academy, and Meredith went to the Hotel Pennsylvania to find her hero Enzo, but details matter: nobody was in Union Square that night except Bret Easton Ellis, still waiting for the theater that he’d “live in” from 1998 to 2006.
Paul and Meredith didn’t go to a movie in Union Square, nor did they see Grumpier Old Men. According to Lorena Alta (still living), she saw the teens in her screening of Heat at the Loews Village 7. When she went to use the restroom, she saw the same kids sneaking into Martin Scorsese’s Casino. All three of us have talked to Mrs. Alta since last week’s story was published and would like to apologize for getting such an important detail so wrong in our continuing fairy tale serial. Because all of this did happen.
I know now that Paul and Meredith saw many movies that night, in fact, every single one playing at the Loews Village 7: Heat, Casino, Grumpier Old Men, 12 Monkeys, Sabrina, and Nixon. They almost saw Waiting to Exhale at the Village East Cinemas (now run by Angelika), but the Loews Village 7 was right on 7th Ave. and Paul successfully argued that they’d both be better able to get out of there as quickly as possible when the time came.
They never went to Virgin Megastore that night. Meredith went often, but Paul had been just once on a family trip some years ago. They also never talked much about music, nor what they were doing in the city that night. Paul and Meredith became fast friends because they didn’t have time to explain that they both had somewhere to be and that they’d help each other get there. One night in New York City, January 1996, their angels were watching them—and the same angels (ROOSTER) would like to apologize for their (HIS) mistakes.
Because there’s much more that he missed in his reporting on that night in New York City, you know when (SAY IT AGAIN FOR THE HENS IN THE BACK), January 1996.
—Follow Monica Quibbits on Twitter: @MonicaQuibbits