Free Lunch (Blogophilia 9.12)

The damp handkerchief couldn’t keep up with the rivers of moisture pouring down his face. Savannah, the land of sweating and gnats. Heat rose from the faded pavement, something he never liked. Nothing had a clear view, just a shaky look. Only place he’d been to worse was New Orleans. At least here you might catch a breeze.

A halfhearted attempt to squeeze the cloth out didn’t help. Laundry was going to be gross this week. Kathy would hold it by one corner and wrinkle her nose as it landed in the washer. Oh, well. Can’t be helped. A feeble attempt to wind dry it was made before putting it back in his pocket.

It had been a productive trip. Somebody at the VW store had mucked up their inventory system. It turned out to be an idiot using an unsecured site had downloaded a a virus. He’d seen it before. Floor traffic gets slow and the sales folks get bored. The fix ended up being two software patches and a quick code rewrite. A reboot later, and everything was working properly. Before he left, he wrote up his recommendations, including the installation of a good site filter, and left it for the IT manager.

The owner was so happy he offered a new Jetta for the trip home. He turned it down with a smile. But he did take the gift certificate for lunch. He looked at his watch, one o’clock. He could eat and still make it home before midnight. Or should he wait for when could bring Kathy? The expiration date is next month. The baby wasn’t due for another six weeks but she was already on travel restriction. He’ll Facetime. Emmy would still be at school.

Mopping the reddening bald spot one more time, he got in the car and pulled out on the main road. The air conditioning against his damp shirt felt cold. Crossing the road he jokingly call the wall, the street magically turned into a tree lined tunnel and temperature dropped ten degrees. It really did add to the charm of the place. He hummed a little tune on the way in and in a few minutes he was entering the heavy oak door.

“Welcome to the Crystal Beer Parlor. How many?”

“Just me, today.”

“Booth or table?”

“The booth in the back, in the corner” A two beat pause, “... in the dark.”

The Hostess winked. “I can’t give you the dark, too early.” She motioned him into the main dining room.

She led him to the last booth on the right. An impossibly young waitress, blonde hair in a bun and chewing gum, brought water and a menu. Nothing changes here. He smiled and said it would be a minute and she went over to her station to finish spot drying glasses.

It was same booth they had shared so many years ago. Oak paneling on the wall ran to the top of the bench, followed by plaster to the ceiling. Simple framed pictures of dignitaries went all the way to the top of the high ceiling.

As he traced the grain on the warm wood, he thought back. It hadn’t been much of a honeymoon. Only three days before she had to be back at work. But they had made the best of it. Dinner here was the second night. They sat on the same side with her next to the wall. They fed each other and played around, soon almost two hours were gone and the staff had to kick them out. They went back to the hotel to have each other for desert before making the trip home. Sixteen years was a long time.

Blondie came back and he placed his order. A bowl of crab soup, with a shrimp salad sandwich. He also ordered a whiskey sour and a banana daiquiri for the call. It was the same order as they had back then. The waitress gave him puzzled look. He brought out his phone and assured her he would be joined by someone. Shrugging, she headed toward the kitchen.

He thought about pulling the kickstand and setting on the table, but he decided it holding it would work better. Opening the app and touching the button, he waited. In a few seconds the curly face appeared. She had one of his old work shirts he wore before he lost the weight. She said they still smelled like him, and they were the only thing that could comfortably get around her belly. It didn’t matter, she still looked cute.

“Hey, Cowboy.”

“Hey, yourself.” Jimmy grinned and rotated the screen. “Guess where I am.”

Kathy blinked a minute and then saw the red leather of the high backed booth.

“Oooh, Crystal Beer Parlor” A mock look of annoyance. “You meanie. You didn’t even think of me.”

“Yeah, I did. I’m calling, right?”

She sighed and flipped her hair back. “Yeah, I suppose.” Picking up a banana off of the counter. “But, I want a daiquiri and she said I can’t have any until the baby comes.”

“I’ve got you covered.” Jimmy showed the pale sweet drink. “Eat yours and I’ll drink mine. Maybe we can make it work. Anyway, what did the Doc say?”

“My blood pressure is down a little.” She pulled up the shirt and took a long whiff. “She said whatever I’m doing is working.”

She began to peel the banana. Thin fingers slipping around the shaft as she deftly slipped a nail in a seam. Yellow green pooled along her palm as he sipped the sweet drink. The fruit became a popsicle, her tongue licking and caressing as it got thinner and thinner. She kissed the screen then devoured the rest, leaving a satisfied smile. His glass was empty. The show was better than any nudie place he’d ever been to. Jimmy smiled. He wished he had something of hers to smell to finish it off.

A wicked grin came across her face. “I can think of something else I’d like to have. But I’ll be asleep when you get home.”

It wasn’t real thing, but closer than they had been for a while. It didn’t matter how long they had been together, she came up with a new twist. He chased it with a sip of the sour and wished he could smell the lavender in her hair. The two cocktails left him with a pleasant buzz.

“You’re ready for a ride, aren’t you Cowboy?” She grinned.

“Forever and always, Miss Kathy Simpson.” Jimmy replied. “Maybe we’ll saddle up later.”

“We’ll see.” He knew she’d go as far as her body would allow.

“Oops, I hear Emmy coming.” She picked up the peel and smiled. “I’ll wait up.”

The screen went blank and Jimmy was left to finish the soup. It didn’t take long. Clearing the check, he left a ten for Blondie and headed for the barn. He was ready to be home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Topic-Michelle King

Pic-Dave Coon

Pic guesses: Sky rail, monorail, arcing, elevated, reversed, streetscape, Sunny day.