hed been waiting on the double
IPAs release for months and as it was finally out and he was in walking
distance of the brewery he was headlong out the door walking
he was going to imbibe what he
may
he anticipated the walk home
he antagonised the belief that
one shouldnt drink alone
alone has a dire connotationHes
all alone One shouldnt be alone
alone suggesting loneliness
alone fit him to a T
Alone he countered was all
one he believed it was a pity if one couldnt
amuse or fulfill themselves
he took a stool and spun it up counterclockwise
on its metal screw to the height he liked where he could rest his foot on the bar rail all the zinc tables were full obviously he wasnt the only person to
anticipate the roll out
Christy the barmaid smiled at him she
nodded knowingly and without a word tapped him a double
it seemed every time he was in
and inquired when the Imperial would be out she was working
she set the glass down lustily before
him Ill bet this pint is going to taste mighty good Youve been so patient
he laughed I wouldnt say patient I endured
You certainly did
handing her his debitcard she
asked coyly Should I keep it open
Oh you should Very much you should
he picked the glass up held
the pint under his nose and breathed in
he thought and laughed to himself Winos think they have something on
beer drinkers
its scent made him salivate
he looked in the mirror at the back
of the bar and took in the reflections of the gathered
they were boisterous and
flushedhaving a good time
he held his pint up to them
unseen nodded and took a deep sip
Ah Gawddamn Gawddamn
I agree said the stranger sitting at his elbow Its a damn good Imperial
I didnt ask flowed through his
mind but he didnt say It is
Ive drank a lot of very good Imperials
but I must say this easily stand among them
I agree
Im passing through and if you live
here I must admit Im jealous Youll be able to have this time an time againIve
asked
they dont offer growlers
Yes Its a perk to have a good brewmaster in a small
town
the stranger offered his hand My names Thomas
he accepted ithe wasnt rude
despite its constantly niggling Joe Thomas not Tom
Not Tom ever Or Tommy Thomas
I have a brother Thomas who
prefers Tom or Tommy His kids call him
by his name
If I had kids and they did they wouldnt
eat at my table until they stopped
Deferred
No Submitted
Its disrespectful
Youre
telling me But he allows it
What do they call you
I answer to Uncle Joe Otherwise I look through them
What is that
I dont know Where did Thomas come fromKnow why your folks
named you Thomas
I do You know where Joe came from
My paternal grandfathers
name You
I wish Im named for Thomas Browne
Thomas Browne Sir
What Seventeenth century
Why would you know that
My skulls packed with useless
information Trivia Im a reader
Inveterate Never a vet but an
invet
Ha clever Yes Sir Thomas Browne My parents separately were enthralled by
him Then they met and were enthralled
that the other was enthralled by Browne
Kindred spirits
Fuck kindred Soul mates What has you that you know him
Oh without a doubt his Musaeum
ClausumI dont think I say that right The
Sealed Museum a jeu d’esprit or that for that matter a lighthearted display of wit and cleverness him
mocking his collection of a skin of a snake bred out of the spinal marrow of a man Thats tough to top
Oh my godmy parents would have loved
you
No Remember
Trivia
Oh yes My parents adored Brownes partisan style versus say Hemingways pared style plain style
Victorian architecture to
modern Its floridness
Yes exactly
Their favorite he looked up at the tin-tiled ceiling It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can
throw at a man to tell him he is at his end of nature or that there is no
further state to come My parents were
atheists Like Browne
Thats sobering
It is And we arent here to be sober Change of pace Got something
I do
And
And as I walked home from the gym
earlier this morning I was circled by a hawk ten times What do you make of thatIt spiraled over me
rising in a column
No ideaDont know what to make out
of that What did it mean to you
I got dizzyviserally dizzy It was very cool
Maybe you found yourself under a
convenient column of rising air
Perhaps Or perhaps I created the column It came off of me
Lets not get nutsy
Nutsy to think or perceive I have the capacity to
create or I can encourage an updraftan upswelling an upwelling
Take your choice
Unlikely
Inversely Likely Not impossible A man not at the end of his nature having a
further state to come The hawk was on the
crossbeam of a telephone pole some fifty sixty meters from the road It flew towards me after I hailed it It circled once to my left then played out
its arc and ten times circled directly over meI was on the cell with my
girlfriend She tolerated my counting braying astonishment in her ear
Ive never heard of anything like that
before
for days now he was aware of bird
shadows streaking across his way as he walked reading their small shadows on the white page a wing
a tail turkey vultures and blackbirds blotted the page entirely
No I havent either or has it happened to me
before
So what do you think
I think Im fortunate And I want another Imperial Barmaids name is Christy People like it when you call them by their
name
1452, Twosday,
6 6. 17
1234, Day-between-Two-Ts, 7 6.
17
1323
days remaining or fewer Russian buhbye
