ARR 1988 - Flipbook - Page 57
Larry's was a quality of life that meant, among other things, a strorig
respect for language abuse. That was fine. Tony had a strong respect and
desire for understanding the incomprehensible, and, balanced with a mutual
sense of scorn, respect and disgust for Larry, this made everyone a happier
camper. Also, in the midst of Tony's and Larry's perpetual, often trivial
battle of wits, it was good to know that Pat was around, eternal referee
between the two, though always ready to take a few shots of his own.
Tony made a few milktoast efforts at self-uplifting Jazz harmonies,
but the mood was completely shattered, thanks to Larry. Tony put down the
guitar as Larry was starting to claw the furniture.
"C'mon, stooge, get it together. You're always plugged into that
stupid thing. C'mon, man, get it together!"
They left for the river, stopping at Pat's house to pick him up.
Lunchtime brought the mid-day traffic to a standstill, and in the back
of Larry's pickup, while diving into a fresh cold one, Tony had time to lapse
in to the familiar stream of thought: What am I doing here? Don't I have some
place to be? Is this the whole ofmy existence? Is there any more beer? He
drifted off.
To Tony, it could not have been chance that they had happened to
meet each other at the River Rider, way back in March, each waiting for the
occasional "Big Brother" type, the older guy who knows what it is like to be
seventeen and pimping beer on the first sunny day in March, the guy who
even now may be on his way to pick up a case. It was also not chance that
these three had met, armed with beer, at the river later that same week.
They had known, each of them, the key they held between them, the key to
the liquor closet of life. Even so, as they had needed drinking buddies, they
had also just needed companionship, someone to share the instability, the
darkness, someone to take part in the loneliness. Each needed the other's
weaknesses to form a shared strength. Hardly a celebration of Life, he
thought gloomily, sinking into the dark places a good buzz could always fix.
He downed the last of the Coors Larry had brought and smashed the can in
his fist.
They had all been affected by Life, but Tony felt he'd been hit the
hardest. He had been a silent watcher most of his childhood, soft.spoken, shy
in spirit. Now, he whined to himself, he had become removed, easily
detached, apathetic to reality. Job-hunting and Career Exploring? It
seemed to him that Life would be better if all these little intrusions wouldn't
get in the way of his .. .life.
He tossed the can out the back and Larry was hollering about hey you
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