Chapter 11

I was awakened the next morning to the very pleasant sight of Lori, who happened to be sitting on top of me.

"Okay, I’m very confused," I remarked aloud, which I was. A light hangover was making everything very disorienting, as was the fact it was ten forty-five in the morning and we hadn’t gotten in until after four AM the night before. This did not detract from the very pleasant sight of waking up to Lori’s face, which I was always happy to see, even when its presence was, once again, abusing my delicate Sunday morning sensibilities.

"Hi there," she told me. She was surprisingly light, despite the fact she was sitting squarely on my chest.

"Comfortable?" Came the question from Dan, who was standing just inside the doorway.

"Just so I know," I asked him, "what did I do to end up lying under Lori? I ask because I’d like to make sure I do it again tonight."

Lori gave a happy laugh. "Dan let me in. I’ve been trying to wake you for the last five minutes, but eventually I figured I’d just sit here and wait for you to wake up on your own."

"Oh. Well, feel free to make yourself comfortable here anytime. I take it you’re going for a run or something?" She was wearing a Sportsbra and jogging shorts. I am not sure how well I did in my subsequent attempts to not ogle.

"Yep," she told me happily, "I figured you boys wouldn’t be interested in that, but I thought I’d find out if you all wanted to join me for a walk around town this afternoon."

"I think that could be arranged," I responded.

"I thought you might be able to do that, yes," Dan added.

"Great," she exclaimed as she got up off my chest and headed toward the door.

"See you in a couple hours," she told Dan as she walked by him, squeezing his shoulder on the way.

"See you then," he answered. Dan stayed standing just inside my bedroom doorway as she walked out the door and closed it. "Okay," he told me after she was gone, "I’m sold."

"Told you."

"Jesus Christ, she is something else."

"Most certainly."

"You know what I can’t figure out, though?"

"What’s that?"

"What a free-spirited girl like that is doing with Ray. He seems like a real dud."

"I have no idea. I have yet to figure out what she sees in him," I told him as I got out of bed and headed toward the kitchen for some coffee.

"He must have some redeeming qualities, but I have yet to see one. And do you realize just how often he fucks up those bass lines?"

"I’ve started to figure out that he messes them up quite a bit, yes. It was actually pretty funny watching you and Andrew at that show last night. You were both wincing in unison."

"Dear God, he was awful. And he had a personality to match. Remember the one time I went up to the bar with Ray to pick up a round of drinks for everybody and it took me next to forever to get back?"

"Not really," I answered. I had quite a bit to drink the night before, so bits and pieces of the evening were pretty hazy.

"You commented quite vociferously on it at the time," he informed me.

"Okay, yeah, I remember that now. Anyway, what about it?"

"Well, from the time I was walking to the bar until just before I walked back, he regaled me on the topic of ‘Why your town sucks’. The alternate title for this series of lectures could also be, ‘New York Rules’, as in R-U-L-Z."

"I see."

"A vital crux to his thesis was what he referred to as the greatest sports tradition in the world."

"Notre Dame football?" I asked.

"Not quite, try again."

"The Yankees," I told him matter-of-factly. Pretty simple answer, really, considering it was coming from a New Yorker.

"Nope."

"No?"

"The Knicks."

"The Knicks?" I asked in return, not believing that could really be the case.

"I was expecting him to say the Yankees, so I was too surprised by him saying it was the Knicks to argue that that was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard."

"The Knicks?" I repeated, trying to get it to sink in.

"I still can’t figure out what the fuck his problem was. I didn’t comment in his presence on what a shitty bass player he is, so I can’t imagine he had that against me."

"It was probably the fact you danced with Lori. He seems like a very jealous sort. I’m still not sure if it’s dancing with her or allowing a room full of guys to work their way between you and her, which always happens, as you probably know, but I know that he’s always pissed off after I go out there with her."

"Well, anyway, the guy would not shut up. I thought he was looking for some sort of fight until I got fed up and told him to just shut up and sit down because he sounded like a fucking idiot."

"You certainly do know how to smooth over a situation. What did he do?" I told him.

Dan continued, "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. It was like all the steam went out of him. That was when Andrew came walking up and announced that he couldn't have phrased it any better himself."

"Oh yeah, I think I know when that happened," I told him, "It was kind of weird, Andrew looked at his watch, got up, turned around, walked toward the bar and then walked back not but a minute later right behind you and Ray."

"That, I believe, might have been it." Dan paused for a bit before noting, "Andrew is kind of an odd character, isn’t he?"

"Actually, he kind of reminds me of you. It wasn’t until you were both in the same room that I noticed you look a little like each other."

"Oh come on," Dan told me.

"I’m not saying you look completely like each other, but there is a similarity I can’t quite put my finger on. You two certainly have a similar way of talking. He’s like a depressed version of you."

"So he’s my evil twin?"

"I think it’s a little early to decide which one is evil, don’t you?"

#

After a quick breakfast and our respective showers, we were both relatively hangover free. We toured the town once again, this time with Lori. Lori showed Dan a lot of places I had already taken him, told him stories I had already related and Dan acted as if those were the first times he had ever seen or heard them. It was not as though I was much more honest with her; I still listened to all her stories and made little interested, "I’ve never heard that before," noises every time she showed me the same parts of town she had showed me before.

I always loved to be with her on those walks. The same tales and the same sights always seemed fresh with her. She elicited a genuine affection for the stories of the construction of the Empire State Building or the dedication of the Statue of Liberty or why one of the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge is resting on sand instead of bedrock.

I’d often see Dan just stare at her as she was pointing out sights. She seemed oblivious to his look, but I recognized the probing gaze I’m sure I had when I was with her. Those voracious eyes that just wanted to swallow up as much information about her as could be devoured in the span of time that was available. I guess that’s why I never tired of the tour: the more I went on it, the more I could simply look at her instead of the sights.

After another, pleasantly spent dinner with Lori and Andrew I took Dan to the airport; he had to catch a late flight back to Kansas City.

"Thanks for your hospitality," he told me at the gate.

"Hey, thanks for coming. I wish you could stay longer."

"I know, me too. Vacation days are scarce right now."

"Well, say ‘hi’ to everybody back home."

"Will do. And you sleep with Lori so you can tell me what it’s like."

"I’ll see what I can do."

"Just so I know, how was it waking up with her sitting on your chest this morning?"

"It runs through my head so often I can hardly believe it really happened. It’s like a hazy dream now. A very good dream, but a dream nonetheless."

"I can imagine."

Soon enough, he boarded the plane and was gone. Such are airports. Too often they are taking friends away.