Memories of Hazey Jane – Part 7
Posted on November 14, 2008
“Tina, you made it!” Joanna exclaimed, passing her the last glass.
The redhead gave it one look and thought better of it. “And so did Jane, I see. Did you have a good flight?” Her eyes darted back and forth between the two of us. Jane gave her a slightly embellished version of this today’s events, starting with the defective conveyor belt, and ending with the rollercoaster landing we hadn’t signed up for.
“Well, at least you got a new friend out of it.” Tina said cautiously.
“Jeff and I are going to make a little trade.” Jane said, in her best sultry voice. “He gives me some good glamour shots, and I let him use me for whatever he wants, however long he wants, anytime he wants.”
“She used to model for my anatomy class.” Harry put in. “I don’t think anybody missed the Thursday session. Believe me when I tell you you’re lucky. Ow!” That must have been from Joanna.
I swallowed hard, fighting the blood rising to my cheeks. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be taking those kind of shots. I mean, most of the time they just want the face, the upper torso, and-“
“Tina, you up for a duet?” Jane fondled an imaginary microphone. “The closer I get to you…”
“I wouldn’t want to break these mirrors.” She replied, glancing doubtfully around the room. Her being here still made no sense – I hadn’t seen her on the flight, and I was pretty sure that was the last one that evening.
“How about you, Jeff?”
My Blackberry went off again, and for a minute, pulled me to my senses. I couldn’t stay out forever. I saw the shouting, the tears, the inevitable accusations – I banished you to voicemail again. “Liquid courage needs a little more time to soak in. Why don’t you start?”
“You guys are no fun at all.” But she flipped through a tattered binder filled with beer-stained pages of songs by everyone from the Chili Peppers to Sondheim. It didn’t take her long; around the O’s, she grinned from ear to ear and ascended the platform, seized the microphone, and punched in the song code.
“They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway…”
Joanna cheered her on. Tina waved passively, and again, she looked so very far away. We were pretty much alone, save for the bartender and a depressed-looking trench coated guy in the opposite corner, but by the second stanza, we all fell silent. This was because the girl could sing. She wouldn’t win any Idol contests, but the longing and the sheer optimism in her voice was enough to even make me believe that where there’s a chance, anything’s possible.
“Feel like another round, Jeff?” Tina whispered. It wasn’t asked in good cheer, and so I followed her lead. Jane didn’t seem to notice as she belted out the last verse:
“They say that I won’t last too long on Broadway…
I’ll catch a Greyhoud bus for home, they all say;
But they’re just wrong, I know they are!
‘Cause I can play this here…”
“Well, I know jack shit about the guitar.” She said, collapsing into another laughing fit.
“When I said I’d see you around…I didn’t think it would be…so soon. How’s your wife doing?” She said, bluntly.
I shook my head. “Tina, was it? I think we’ve got ourselves a…misunderstanding. You see, I don’t think we’ve met before tonight.”
The bartender came, his peering eyes asking the obvious question “He’ll be having a Guinness.” Tina said coolly.
“Campari on the Rocks for the Lady.” I replied, tired of this charade.
Once, her eyes had been reassuring. “What happened? You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Here I am.” I shrugged, taking a long swig. “What’s it to you?”
“You told her no. You took a cab, and then went home. To your wife.” She repeated slowly. My Blackberry started buzzing again; this time I shut the thing off completely.
“Really? Maybe I didn’t like the way that evening turned out. Maybe I wanted to try things differently this time.”
She looked horrified. “You think this is some kind of game? That you can just rewind to the parts you don’t like and-“
I slammed my glass on the counter. She nearly fell out of her chair. “So you admit there are two todays? And I am not losing it?”
The redhead opened her mouth, as if about to launch into whole spiel, when two small hands wrapped themselves around my neck. I tried to keep my breath and face even as the scent of Yeager, strawberries and untamed sweat worked over me.
“You guys know each other? Is this a small world or what?” Jane half-asked, half-exclaimed. Looking at Tina’s glass: “What is this stuff?”
And she drained about half the glass before our mutual friend Tina could respond. She screwed up her face as if sucking a battery, then smacked her lips like a child tasting Kool-Aid for the first time. “This is amazing stuff! Tina, you promised to do the next one with me.”
“I said no such thing! And Jeff and I are in the middle of-“
“Honestly, you can be such a wet blanket.” To me: “Mind if I borrow your girlfriend for a second?”
I retook my place across from Harry and Joanne, and grinned as Tina was reluctantly dragged to the platform and made to sing an outrageously off-key version of “Under the Bridge”. You had to give the girl credit though; for all the shot glasses piling up at her spot at the table, she made it up there in one straight line.
“What on earth were you two just shouting about?” Joanna inquired.
“You two ever sorry you got married?” I sighed.
Harry grimaced. “If I had a nickel…well, the short answer is yes, I’m sorry – grateful, I mean. Maybe a little bit of both?”
Joanna pursed her lips, and took a sip of what looked like a gin and tonic. “I like to think of it this way – sometimes he misses the late nights and the parties. But then again, he knows the bed will never be empty in the mornings.”
“How does she know Tina?” I asked.
“Sometimes she baby-sits little Val. Other than that, I haven’t a clue.” Joanna said.
“Amazing, Jane. As usual.” The three of us turned our heads to the solitary applause coming from the opposite, forsaken corner of the room. Jane dropped the mic, with a very audible crack shattering the silence.
“Raoul? Seriously, man, what the fuck? This sure as hell ain’t 500 feet.”
“What God has yoked together let no judge pull apart, sweetie. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
“So that we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Drawing up her petite figure, she reminded me of a lioness about to pounce. “There’s the door. If I remember correctly, you were always very good at using them.”
“We both know that was a long time ago.” He said between his teeth.
“Two years isn’t nearly long enough.”
Harry pushed his chair aside, and moved to get up, but I was already there, inserting my substantial mass between the two. Maybe Liquid Courage was a bit of an exaggeration, I won’t admit to thinking past the next few sentences. “We’re going to have a problem here?”
“I told you we should’ve stayed out of the Village, Harry.” Joanna said, grabbing her coat. “I think it’s time to bounce.”
“Is this your new boy toy?” Raoul looked over me with contempt. “Seriously, did I really lose to him?”
“Well, he’s got two things on you already.” She retorted, tucking her head under my arm, embracing me. “First, he’s not a manipulative asshole. And secondly, he tells the truth.”
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