Sometimes it's about time and timing and the subtle differences between those two.
An ex-girlfriend called me, this was years and years ago, and asked if I would like to doubledate with she and her new boyfriend. She had a date for me, a woman I shall call Y. You will see why. The ex and I had er, dated when she was still semi-sporadically, technically, married and her new boyfriend was, of course, her ex-brother-in-law. I think we were both mowing her lawn that summer before her divorce was final. Anyway, I needed for some
Bruce Springsteen Lyrics to come true in my life, so despite the certain sense of weirdness, I said yes.
Y and I arrived at the appointed restaurant parking at about the same time, that was a good sign, I thought, and she matched the description that the ex had given me. Also good, but she should have added "constantly on the edge of bursting into tears at any given moment." We shook hands in the doorway and as we were just completing the 'nice to meetchas' the greeter told us there was a message for me and handed me a folded note.
It said "Can't come tonight, go rabbit."
I am not going to explain what the ex meant by that, but think Energizer Bunny.
We sat down. We looked at the menus. I started asking questions.
Had she ever been here before?
No, but once she and Eddie, her ex, had gone to the one just down the street.
See anything she liked on the menu?
Yes, and Oh, they have duck!
You like duck?
She'd never had it before, but Eddie had often ordered it.
You begin to see the pattern.
There was no question a person could ask without Eddie popping up in the middle of the answer.
Was her family from around here?
No. Eddie's was.
Did her car get good mileage?
Not as good as... .
What did she think were the possibilities of Middle East Peace?
Or how about those Oklahoma Sooners??
or did she think it was going to rain anytime soon??
Every answer began without a hint of Eddie, but sooner or later, in some way, small or large, he would appear.
She didn't start crying until the duck she ordered arrived.
Then she started to explain that she didn't really know why she was there or why Eddie and she weren't together and why these things happen to people who are just trying to live their lives. You know?
You know? was the first question she had asked me.
I was so startled I forgot to nod, so she asked me again.
and so the dinner continued for about another hour and a half.
===
She made me follow her to her new house, Eddie still lived in the old one, and she wasn't too sure how safe the neighborhood was. Sure.
It was the kind of neighborhood where nobody had locked a lock in years.
She invited me in.
What can I say? It was the wrong time and the timing was way ahead of her, but I didn't want to disappoint Bruce and the boys. Did I?
We had a little fire,
and some fireworks too,
the boss banging out the verses
and the rabbit fur flew.
She cried and cried,
but she never said a word about Eddie.
Joe(not once)Nation
