--I'm Isabel by the way, Isabel Cohen. You told her your name. She said: --Interesting. How do you pronounce it? You told her: strictly phonetic, just the way it's spelled. --So you're Jewish. --Yep. --My ex is Jewish as well. We have 2 kids, who obviously are also Jewish, since Jewish culture is transmitted through the mother. --You got that right. Do you have a girlfriend? --Yep. Her name is Tamara, and she lives in Minneapolis. --Ah, a commuter romantic relationship. How do you manage that? --We manage it. I fly to Minneapolis once a week to see my kids and to see her. (After you met Isabel, you told Tamara about her, but you said you and Isabel were simply just friends.) Then suddenly, Isabel changed topics, more or less ignoring the information that you had just shared with her about Tamara. --Hey listen, I have an idea. After we're done here, can we grab either coffee or even lunch? --I haven't had lunch yet. So yes by all means lunch. --I haven't had lunch yet either, so lunch. --Sounds like a plan. --I'll come looking for you when I'm done. I'm headed for the nonfiction section right now. --I'll just stay with fiction for now. I'm looking for the Complete Works of Marcel Proust, and also the Complete Works of Samuel Beckett. Jenny will give me a generous discount with both volumes. --I see. See you in a bit.