Entangled slight relationships, new sunglasses, poverty & some hope, some homesickness...
posted by jeremy on April 20, 2005
On sunday, Rachel & I took her new pirogue (flat-bottomed canoe, highly unstable, prone to flipping, which, in turn, adds an interesting new element to the alligators in the water around you... Certain questions about your supposed dominance in the food chain begin to arise. Very curious, all of it.) out to the bayou. It was beautiful, very very beautiful.
The way certain drowned cypress trees served as nurse stump/bonsai gardens for amazing plants I had no hope in hell of identifying.
The way huge white herons flapped off in their alien way at our approach.
The purple irises growing everywhere.
The worry of gators as the lip of Rachel's boat rocked to near water level at the slightest jiggle.
I left wonderfully impressed, intent on much more.
That night I spent hanging out with a girl from Rachel's work, a slight pretty freckled girl who also happens to be the best pool player I have met in this town. She, innocently, spent the night & we woke the next day, went to the Quarter for breakfast, new sunglasses, (I suspect Rachel stole mine) to see a movie. We selected Millions, the new film by Danny Boyle. The motherfucker has balls, I tell you. He goes from 28 Days Later to directing a sweet bright odd childrens movie & a good one at that. A little slow, but worth seeing. DVD, maybe... (O & the preview for Kung Fu Hustle was off the fucking charts. Goddam.)
But onwards, we left the theater, walked talking nothing back the 20 or so blocks to my house. It was a pizza, ghost story, budweiser kind of night, even more innocent than the last. Morning comes & she leaves for her early shift at the Hard Rock Cafe. I fall back asleep, pleased, wary, confused...
Hours later, I simply wake missing Portland, missing the bitch ferociously. I suddenly wanna go to the Fresh Pot on Mississippi, ride downtown, take the MAX to Forest Park, go sit back in the redwood section of the arboretum. I wanna leave there, call Deb & Nate up, have them meet me at a bar, any bar, shoot a game of pool, laugh. I wanna ride my bike thru the dark cool PDX streets to wherever home is. But whatever, It's OK, right? I guess it has to be.
Just do me a favor, friends. Have a fun day in Portland for me.
