Anna: Reinvented

Article 031.

This is not the sequel to the 2022 Netflix hit "Inventing Anna". Remember her? Anna Delvey. The con artist, the fraudster from the mid 2010s? Heard she is selling her sketches for income nowadays or is that old news? And Julia Garner's portrayal of that role was justice. She was perfect. Just had to say that. But this ain't about Kendrick or Faris either. Not even sultry tennis star Kournikova. This Anna, my Anna, is nowhere near their realm. She is on a class of her own.

Anna is from Idaho, the state famous for their potatoes. Yes she is a farm girl, who took it to the streets of San Francisco to Major in Business at USF. Oh their family is well-off, what with all their land and cattle business so prominent in Boise. Picture the series Yellowstone for a minute, yeah, exactly. But you wouldn't think of her like that if you meet her for the first time. She is sweet, down-to-earth and has a cute little accent I really can't make of. She has 2 daughters just as gorgeous as she is. Anna was a widower when I met her, a year after her husband passed away due to a heart attack. It was at a Target store of all places. She hit me with her grocery cart a tad strong, not seeing me coming in from her left. She looked out of sorts when we had eye contact but immediately apologized and went her way. I manage to bump into her a few other times in the store exchanging short grins with each other but the last encounter, she almost ran her cart off my foot. To which I said-- "Now this one I think you did on purpose?", finally getting a smile out of her. She replied, "I'm sorry. I'm a bit spaced out. I didn't mean to..." And before she could finish her line, I said-- "It's all good!" I could've just let it pass and it would've been the last time we'll see each other again. I mean we were both passing by San Jose as she just happened to stop over for some last minute buys on her way to Paso Robles. While I was to pick up a friend there and buy a gift for the weekend birthday party I'm going to in Sacramento. So before that moment passed by, I told her that I noticed the gloomy aura in her face since the first bump in. She said, "Is it that obvious?" I quipped, "I wouldn't say if I didn't notice." Surprisingly, she started opening up sounding like someone who needed a lifeline. I was listening halfheartedly because I was totally infatuated on her looks. Can't help it. She is a gorgeous middle-aged woman, with brown almost gingery-colored long hair and grey eyes. The freckles on her arms were very visible and her almost cowboy-themed outfit, although sexy, was a give-away that she didn't grew up in the city. In a bold but not entirely surprising move from my end, I asked her if she wanted to get a cup of coffee. She hesitated, of course, but I insisted. She looked at her watch and said "I guess I can kill a few minutes!" We went to Starbucks just across the store.

She didn't want to talk about her issue anymore but rather talk about something cheerful, I suppose to take her mind away from the sad truth. I told her that I was from Los Angeles but her face was telling me she wanted to know what my ethnicity was. So I said I was Finnish, to her surprise. Oh if you can only see her puzzled look (haha).. it was priceless! She was afraid she'd offend me if she blurts out that I look Asian so I did her a favor and told her I was really Filipino by race. She guffawed and was relieved at the same time. Her face finally turned into sunshine like I pictured it would be. Turns out we had a lot in common-- our passion for music, writing and the love of football (Boise State Broncos for her and the Packers for me). Interesting enough she also likes Soju, lumpia and sushi like I do. The next thing you know, two hours had already lapsed. We still had a good amount of miles to drive to our respective destinations but I felt she never wanted to end the conversation like I did. So we did a "Before Sunrise" promise to see each other again in a month's time (not six), same place at 10am. No exchange of numbers or addresses not even last names. Just a promise to show up at the said rendezvous at a future date. Coincidentally, Promise Me by Beverley Craven [https://youtu.be/EmTBKbyaEjU?si=DF431OJX1HZGNiwd] was playing inside, as if it was destiny. We both were ecstatic. We got out of the coffee shop and headed our separate ways. But not a few steps apart she turned around and told me that the idea was stupid. Although we knew in "Before Sunset" that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy still saw each other albeit by accident, she said it's crazy to toy around with such a wonderful thing. She gave me her number and I rang her back. I called her on my way to Sac-Town and we talked for another hour delving on just how things could've turned differently if she never turned around and nixed our original plan. And there my folks is how our slightly long distance relationship started. Ain't that cute?

Now imagine a white woman who grew up in Boise, barely exposed to a multi-cultural environment such as California until she was in college, being interested in an Asian man. That is totally absurd!!! I'm not racially profiling on this stereotype, but come on? That rarely if not doesn't actually happen in real life. So I apologize if I got you riding on my coattails there for a bit. Everything was a lie. The entire story was made up. Would've been a great plot for my next short story so I guess you already have a preview. Oh come on, don't be mad! I said I'm sorry. And come to think of it now, this could indeed be a sequel to Inventing Anna, a story about deception. But honestly, there is one truth in all of that-- that her name is indeed Anna. And I'm certainly sure that very soon, if not already, that this Anna, my Anna, will reinvent me.

Doesn't Anna Delvey look deceiving to you here?