Salvatore J. Fallica, remembrance
Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100, ed. Gerald R. Lucas and Maggie McKinley (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 25; transcribed from the final interior PDF
From Reflections: Norman Mailer at 100 (The Norman Mailer Society, 2023), p. 25.
When my daughter Elisabeth was around 12, I began taking her to Provincetown. One morning, after enjoying those luscious cinnamon rolls at the Portuguese Bakery, we were walking along Commercial Street, looking to sign up for a whale watch later that week. But walking directly towards us is Norman Mailer doing his morning constitutional. I knew it was him immediately, that shock of hair, that aggressive walk, although he did have those ace bandages on his knees. As we got closer to each other, I sputtered Mr. Mailer! How are you? I recall shaking his hand and introducing my daughter to him and saying how much I appreciated his work. He turned to Elisabeth and said “How are you young lady and how do you like Provincetown?” He said to me that he was doing a reading later that night, and I blurted out that I had written my Master’s thesis on his work. He asked me what I had focused on, and I said who knows what. But then he said, “send it to me.” Well, I thought, that’s not going to happen. So, we went to sign up for the whale watch and Norman went about his morning walk.
Salvatore J. Fallica