Once upon a time, I shared a house rental with three friends and every now and then there would be some unexpected, unknown company in the common living room when I’d come home. One time in particular there was this hippy girl in a long dress and a slouch sweater who was the girlfriend of a roommate’s friend (and man, was she out of his league). She had long brownish blonde hair and I remember she was remarkably beautiful, but that’s not from where the memory of the girl gets interesting. No, it got interesting when I overheard her sing along to the female parts in a duet called Can’t We Try by balladeer Dan Hill and songstress Vonda Shepard. I was hiding out in my bedroom as a good extroverted introvert would do, and suddenly it was as if someone magnified the sound on the music downstairs, and the voice of Vonda came alive. But it wasn’t Vonda I’d heard; the voice, one of the most spectacular I’d ever heard being sung by an actual human in my presence, came from the hippy girl who was too good for the guy she’d been dating. And that’s my memory any and every time I hear this song. I think Jan may have the same memory.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 14, 2019. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.
