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Gerald
This is so frustrating. Because Sam worked all night on his project, his big deal of the ultimate art work, I woke up feeling, well, out of my comfort zone, without coffee, without someone to exchange dreams and fantasies. It’s as if I got up already in my office, where everybody has to guard his territory. I shouldn’t be so jealous, after all it was only Peter who had come to the house, made a house call, unlike the previous framing guy who wanted us to deliver to him. I just don’t like to have such presence in the house while I go through the morning routine. It makes me nervous, gives me the feeling I’m missing something… An intrigue, maybe?
“Good morning, what can I get you?” the cute boy at the cafe asked.
“Triple espresso, to go.” I said. “Actually, make it for here,” I corrected myself, thinking it would be better out of ceramic than plastic.
“Rough night?” he asked.
“No, just a different kind of morning,” I said. I refrained from pulling out my iPhone, enjoying the eye candy for what it’s worth.
“I hear you,” he said. “But there’s something good about doing things differently, you know” he added.
“Like getting up on a different side of the bed,” I said.
“Yeah, or waking up with someone different in your bed. Oopse, that’s not very PC, is it?”
“You like variety?” I said, dropping quarters in the tip jar. Heck, I added the dollar bill too.
“Thank you,” he said. “Are you on your way to work?”
We had time. Nobody behind me calling for his attention.
“Yeah, but I’m parked in the 7 minute spot,” I said, pointing at my car. Our car. I bought it for our anniversary.
“That’s a nice little red car,” he said. Obviously he didn’t know what it was. But I’m sure he would enjoy the ride.
“1965 MG,” I said.
“Wow, that’s like, historic. I don’t have a car, but if I had a car, I’d like something like that.”
“Maybe I’ll give you a ride some day,” I said, finishing my coffee. “Good coffee. See you.”
Saying that excited me a bit, and combined with the strong coffee, I was ready to go through a tough day of arguments and agreements, of getting the best for my clients out of nasty situations. Back on the driver’s seat I considered the empty seat next to me, and thought “yeah, I could have him there some day.”
“No, forget about it,” I told myself out loud, driving with the top off, the heater at its hottest, the engine rumbling. It would be… very complicated, to say the least. San Francisco is a small town, and this guy worked here, a couple of blocks from where we lived, Sam and I even walked there at times. No, keep that off your mind, I told myself. “God!” I said out loud, hitting the steering wheel. Can’t get everything, but I reminded myself that I should be satisfied with that moment, and that I could play with the image, I could keep his image and imagine him whenever I needed to. That’s called fantasy. Highly recommended if you want to keep a long-term relationship going. And appreciate the moment of the actual interaction we just had.
There’s something about having your own parking spot in this big multi-level garage. You don’t have to look for a space, you know it will be there, and you can drive right into it. But there was Jack, getting out of his Lexus, coming from his Marin home I supposed, and waiting for me to park.
“Hey, Jerry, drove the little toy car today?”
“Yeah, it’s like having a dog, you need to take it out,” I said.
“It could fit inside mine, I think, ha ha ha,” he said.
“I suppose it would,” I went on.
“How’s the Laughton case?” he asked in the elevator.
“Progressing rapidly,” I said, “the judge should sign off today on the settlement.”
“Good job,” he said, tapping me on the shoulder when I got off.
“Thank you,” I said, watching the door close with him inside. Always defer to royalty. He was getting a cut on this settlement just for having his name on the partner list. This case was moving my name up on the waiting list to be on the list right below his list, and that meant more power, more money, more of everything. I no longer thought of cute boys in cafes. I was in my world, and what a view I had from my window. Yeah.
LITBAZAAR 