themarkv

It was early Friday night and I was at home eating chicken Kiev, drinking chardonnay and watching The Simpsons when the phone rang. Im wearing a pink gingham milkmaids outfit. I almost choked. In less than an hour I was at the Kent St Caf. The moment I saw her I was breathless. When she bent over and showed me her red gingham underwear with cherries on top, I had to sit down. She ushered me into the performance space and told me where to sit and to mind the place next to me for her. She came in when the play started and sat on my jacket and we both smoked during the performance, simply because we could. At one stage, she leaned behind me and before Id finished wondering what she was doing, she pulled out a large bottle of tonic. I hope theres gin in that said I. There was.

The weekend passed in a blur of parties, racing cars, barbeques, nightclubs and country bands until it was Sunday evening and I saw her once again at the Gypsy Bar. Something was going on and I felt it when she left. I went to Ginger for my usual Sunday night staff meal and cigarette with the owner. I left there telling myself to just go home, but I knew she'd be at the Kent St Caf working the door for her boys play. I got home, took two steps and turned around and went back out the door. This was something I just had to do. I walked up the stairs of the caf and there she was, sitting alone in virtual darkness outside the door. She saw me and threw herself into my arms, gave me a kiss and held me so tight I thought I was going to faint. She then looked into my eyes and said, "Every time I heard a pair of boots walk up those stairs I thought it would be you and now youre here". We sat through the play, both in plaits and laughed like the giggling idiots we were. As I left, she whispered in my ear "You know what you've done".

I must have sat on the couch at home for about three hours reducing that imprecise statement down to two possibilities. Then I chose the wrong one. I couldn't sleep and as I watched the Monday dawn and decided not to go to work, I sort advice from my various Oracles. Their wisdom made me laugh and cry and the same time. I had wanted something so badly that I came to choose the less likely of the two possibilities. I must have changed outfits at least three times before deciding how I should look when I went to the Gypsy Bar to have what I really knew confirmed. Later that afternoon I reconciled myself with my folly and took a bittersweet pleasure in just being in her presence. At one point she came unto me and hugged me and gently kissed me on the neck. There was a moment when the sun broke through the clouds and shone only on her. In the background, Tom Waits was singing "How's it gunna end".