Member-only story
“Now Why Don’t She Write.”
Why people don’t follow up with you
For those old enough to remember the movie Dances With Wolves, one of the early laugh lines, tinged with sadness, is when the foul mule driver Timmons comes upon stagecoach people who had been killed by Indians. They’re out in the middle of the sweeping Dakota prairie, oceans of yellow billowing in the breezes.
“People back home are saying, NOW WHY DON’T SHE WRITE,” Timmons says with black humor. Of course, he suffers the same fate himself later, but at least demonstrates love for his precious mules.
I wonder the same thing, but in a different context, when I meet genuinely interesting people, give them my business card, and never hear anything again.
Over this past year, I have met engaging people in various settings, often shopping at TJ Maxx or in a grocery store. I usually carry my business cards with me. I hand one over, after this person, almost always another woman, and I have had a lengthy, lively conversation. There’s clearly a connection. Well. Okay, for me anyway. She says she’ll be in touch.
She almost never writes. Or texts, or emails or calls. They rarely have a card, so I can’t follow up.