Before I begin, I should start by explaining my aunt’s love for David Cassidy as a teen. She would buy every teen beat and had a “David Cassidy Scrapbook” which she would look at every night before going to bed. But this was in the 1970s, the era of Frank Zappa and would never admit to watching The Partridge Family. She was a closeted admirer.
For my aunt’s birthday this year I gave her I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. A fictional account of two middle aged David Cassidy fans who are determined to meet their teen idol 24 years after The Partridge Family ended.
As a joke my mom played with her handwriting and created a personalized message from David Cassidy. He had recently been at a near by casino after all.
It was inscribed as such:
“To my #1 fan
Love David”
Surprisingly, she bought it. We were shocked but played along with it. But soon the guilt set in with
“You are the best niece”
“What was he like? How did he look?”
“You are the best niece”
“I don’t care if the book is bad as long as he touched it”
“You are the best niece”
And then she began calling people…
We kept it up for about a week and then we became too racked with guilt, she was disappointed and disbelieving for a few minutes and then saw the humor in it, in fact we should have kept it up longer. Maybe next year she’ll be Paul McCartney’s biggest fan…
Sneaky trick! I wonder if she'll actually read the book…I read it last year and I rather liked it, despite not knowing the first thing about David Cassidy.
My uncle had surgery last week and she started it then but don't yet know what she thinks of it. I'm glad to hear it's worth reading, maybe I can borrow it when she's through.
That's a great story! A couple of years ago my sister sold Al Gore some artwork and since she got to know him a little bit, she asked if our Mom could be added to his Christmas card list, and so for Christmas that year she got a card from Al and Tipper! But she insisted for the longest time that it was my brother-in-law playing a joke on her. She thought for sure that he had forged Al's name and was teasing her. My sister was a little disappointed, but eventually Mom believed her and now it's a funny story. Kind of the reverse of your story!