Hide and Seek

I have this thing with Ben & Jerry's, well, it's becoming a thing. A couple years ago I was standing in line waiting for my favorite scoop, Oatmeal Cookie, joking around obnoxiously with Rachel Tomlinson, as only we do...and who do I catch out of the corner of my eye but Bruce Willis. Bruce was wearing the classic, don't notice me, celebrity get up...ratty jeans, black t-shirt, hat, and sunglasses. As if no one notices someone who doesn't take off their sunglasses inside, but whatever, Bruce.

I like to think that seeing a movie star doesn't phase me because I have grown up around enough "famous" people in my town, my school, etc. so I didn't really react. I'm mature, I'm smooth. About a half hour later as we walked around the plaza (in Malibu), and who do we run into, but Bruce. Bruce, are you following me? I wonder. Of course it didn't occur to me at the time that I was in the smallest town in the world. Two Bruce sightings in one day? It was uncanny!

Fast forward to this summer in SB. I was sitting inside Jeannine's, waiting for my Turkey Cranberry sandwich (my mouth is watering), and gazing outside at the beautiful sunny day. After a few minutes I noticed a guy (hat and sunglasses, como siempre) who kept looking up from his meal at me. Only then did I realize I had been gazing right over the head of my good friend Bruce. Of course, being the celebrity that he is, naturally he assumed I was gazing longingly at him. I hastily averted my gaze, totally embarrassed, despite the fact that this time his incognito celebrity uniform had actually worked!

On Friday, as Mara and I strolled through Sevilla doing some lazy afternoon shopping and I noticed an older, scruffy looking bald guy sauntering along with an ice cream cone- from Ben & Jerry's (aha! a pattern, yeah okay, a loose one). I sort of recognized him and wracked my brain for a moment. Sometimes this happens when you see a celebrity, you get this, how do I know you nervous feeling, like you're about to have a blank-faced awkward interaction. As soon as I realized I said to Mara under my breath (smooth and classy, remember?), "Mar are you seeing this?" She kept on talking, not paying any attention. As soon as we passed him I grabbed her arm, "Mara that was Bill Murray!"

"No it wasn't!" she cried incredulously and immediately turned around to follow him, "I have to see his face!" I began protesting. I did not want to break my suave, unaffected performance! I followed her anyway, realizing how much I wanted her to believe me, but after a few minutes I couldn't take it any longer and ducked under an overhang, saying, "Is this the place you were looking for Mar?" As soon as Bill heard me (speaking english...dumb!) and saw that I had backtracked with a tall, blond, German girl (we don't blend well in Spain, have I mentioned that?)-- he crossed the street suddenly.

Mara stood there, exposed, and watched him walk. He proceeded to duck into an alley behind a big truck. I thought he had just disappeared and came out to continue on our way, but Mara stood and continued watching. "Vanessa! He is hiding behind the truck." QUE?? I followed her gaze, and sure enough, Bill Murray's feet stood right below the frame of the truck. We gawked for at least a minute and they didn't budge. He must be finishing his ice cream cone, I thought, and waiting it out. Crazy Americans!

I walked away, again, horribly embarrassed, but secretly thrilled. A couple minutes later Mara said, "Umm, remember when Bill Murray hid from us?" We bust up laughing. An amusing anecdote that I thought I'd share...doesn't surpass Jon sharing a joint with Rob Schneider in Amsterdam, but still, pretty good. :)