Next up in the still-fragmented autobiography that Venus has given us so far, is from early days in Los Angeles again, and an influential figure inspires a song…

“She Sees Round Corners

Man, how I hated that waitressing job. It was in a coffee shop on Mulholland Drive. I mean, looking back now, it doesn’t seem so bad, but that doesn’t matter, does it? Not when you’re there, when you’re in the moment.

So, sure, I can laugh at my younger self now, whining to my new-found mentor, Josie.

“Why is it the richest guys give the meanest tips and are most likely to hit on you?” I’d say to her.

“At least they still hit on you, honey,” Josie would say, and laugh that big, wheezy laugh. She didn’t own the coffee shop, but she might as well have. The real owner gave her the run of the place.

“Look and learn, listen and learn,” she’d tell me. She was about fifty, a big woman who made the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted, but it was the way that she picked up things about the customers that fascinated me.

“Those two are having an affair,” she told me one day, after a couple left the cafe. “Pure and simple. Both got out of the same car, but two sets of car keys on the table. Why would you bring your own car keys when your husband’s drivin’ you?””

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