I'm waking up in Redwood City on the couch in the living room at 8:00 AM to take a hot low-pressure shower and get ready for the day, which is Friday, Jenny's Birthday. Dad's already up and we head downtown to Courthouse Restaurant for breakfast. It's eggs and hash-browns for both of us on this rainy morning, and Dad's impressed that I drink my coffee black. We talk about movies and Michelle Pfeiffer and television shows and women while I take a couple snapshots with the new camera and get a better feel for it.
A handful of hours later, I'm back in Sacramento depositing a check at my ATM and I look to the girl dressed in her work uniform doing the same thing to my right and I say, "Happy pay day," and she nods and replies, "Yeah, same to you."
Between breakfast and Palo Alto, Dad and I look through old photographs stored in a metal briefcase.
Some of them are actually quite hilarious. Dad's long hair at 16. Uncle Andy's band photo (they were called "Threshold" when they were together). Me as a kid with two of my front teeth missing posing against the railing overlooking Los Angeles near Universal Studios. Some of them--those of my late uncle and grandfather--are kind of sad.
I never knew my grandfather, not really, and the vivid memories I have of him can be counted on one hand. Ducking under the television during MASH. The magic trick on the dining table. The train set in the garage. Smoked oysters and keeping the refrigerator door open too long. Then I remember him for a while all strapped up in body restraints, neck-crooked and drool dripping from his mouth, staring ahead without moving, dying every day in the living room. And the day I spent at the neighbor's house while an ambulance came to get him, and the day he died. His funeral. Wanting to say something and wanting to cry and doing neither.
My Uncle John died from a heart attack at the hospital, after an initial heart attack sent him there hours earlier, collapsing on the treadmill when they wanted him to do one last physical test before checking out.
I get to Jenny's party around 8:00. A couple arrives at the same time, Julie Ann and Danny, and Jenny shouts to us that the door is unlocked, so we let ourselves in. Within a few minutes we've all got drinks and we're finding out about each other lounging in the living room. Julie Ann and Danny met on eHarmony, she with the SPCA, he in construction. Good people. Then Jen arrives. I'm on my third vodka-grapefruit juice, dressed, by the way, in this blue overcoat and Cosby sweater with my hair glued completely back with gel so that I look like some James Bond villain, and appropriately pseudo-Russian to match the theme. Jenny's in a tight black dress with elaborate necklaces and earrings. More and more people start showing up. People from around Midtown, people from Davis, more guys than girls but a fairly well-balanced group. Everyone seems to be talking to somebody, except for this grumpy guy who sits on the couch most the night. I mingle. I meet Kaitlyn and Kyle, I take a shot of vodka with an onion chaser, I drink a lot without getting sick, I smoke pot with Tomas, Kyle, Nick, Jenny and the spacey Asian kid. Great night.
Earlier that day, Dad took me to the Borders in Palo Alto to show me off to his coworkers and collect his paycheck. Afterward we spent about an hour at Rudy's Pub--Dad's favorite dive--and did crossword puzzles and ate chili and toasted to visiting each other again soon. Then I drove home.
There was hardly any rain, despite all the weather warnings they've been ranting about on the news. I guess the really shitty stuff is supposed to come tonight. Snow at 1000 feet. That's Auburn, so I guess my mom might be seeing some snowflakes tomorrow.
The next day, Saturday, I woke up in Jenny's bed and we went out for breakfast at Lucky's, eggs benedict, delicious, and meandered over to my room to spend the afternoon huddled together on the floor next to the space heater. We made up the plans to see that animated French film L'Illusioniste at The Crest Theatre and we liked it very much. Along the way we happened across an odd-smelling basement thrift store, Old Soul for tea and the aisles of Office Max while I bought a memory card for the Nikon. After the movie, I walked Jenny back to her apartment and we listened to the Velvet Underground and Kings of Leon albums that I bought her for her birthday, watched This American Life, and made plans to have a bonfire at my house to celebrate Sean's news.
Sean is moving to San Diego soon to live with his sister.
Can't say I'm not sad, but I'm also very happy for him.
The next day, Saturday, I woke up in Jenny's bed and we went out for breakfast at Lucky's, eggs benedict, delicious, and meandered over to my room to spend the afternoon huddled together on the floor next to the space heater. We made up the plans to see that animated French film L'Illusioniste at The Crest Theatre and we liked it very much. Along the way we happened across an odd-smelling basement thrift store, Old Soul for tea and the aisles of Office Max while I bought a memory card for the Nikon. After the movie, I walked Jenny back to her apartment and we listened to the Velvet Underground and Kings of Leon albums that I bought her for her birthday, watched This American Life, and made plans to have a bonfire at my house to celebrate Sean's news.
Sean is moving to San Diego soon to live with his sister.
Can't say I'm not sad, but I'm also very happy for him.
So yesterday after I got back from the Bay Area and put my stuff down in my room, I cleaned and showered, then walked over to Old Soul to get my paycheck. I saw the girl who looks like Amy Adams, but couldn't remember her real name, then felt dumb for calling her Amy Adams (she gets that a lot). Nick was talking to Don about classical music. I said hello to Joe, then saw Sierra sitting in the corner, reading, and I said hello to her, too. She's the girl who works at Jack's Urban Eats and Peet's Coffee, who I haven't seen in a couple weeks. Then I bounced over to the ATM.
Passing back by Old Soul on my way home with a grilled chicken sandwich from Crepeville, I bumped into Jade in the alleyway. She's downright gorgeous and very sweet and we talked for a minute about her growing up in Ashland and moving to Sacramento with her then-boyfriend (who I think was triple-americano Gary, if I'm not mistaken) and the cold weather. Then Sierra comes walking up and asks Jade for a cigarette and I hang out with them until they're done smoking and we watch the daily bird migration that takes place overhead every dusk. A nice random little interaction. Jade seems cool. I excuse myself to go home and eat my sandwich and prepare for Jenny's party.
Girls like Jade make me realize I'm not entirely ready to fall in love.
But when I'm with Jenny, my mind is all Jenny, and it's Jenny that I want. Each day spent with her makes me lose attraction to other women. Instead I take pride in my urge to isolate the attention I give to Jenny, and I feel poised to make that decision. If that's love, then that's love, but it's what I want to do and I'm just following this feeling for better or for worse.
- Left to Fry
But when I'm with Jenny, my mind is all Jenny, and it's Jenny that I want. Each day spent with her makes me lose attraction to other women. Instead I take pride in my urge to isolate the attention I give to Jenny, and I feel poised to make that decision. If that's love, then that's love, but it's what I want to do and I'm just following this feeling for better or for worse.
- Left to Fry
No comments:
Post a Comment