NEEDLING

Was out walking Brutus when upon walking home I see the new neighbor coming out of her house and walking towards me. We greet each other.

We met the other night when Kari seeing her hanging out on the front porch of her house invited her to join us for a drink. Glenn and I if I remember correctly had all ready been at it a while when she joined us. We continued to drink the beer till it ran out and I then ran to my house to find 3/4's of a bottle of Zubrowka vodka, the one with a slight green tinge of color to it, which has a piece of Buffalo grass in the bottle. This bottle had been kept in my freezer. Back at the pick nick table in front of Glenn and Kari’s place, I set four glasses, not shot glasses but proper 10oz size, and filled each on to the rim with the potent ice cold liquid. That evening ended with me waking up on my couch the tv blaring at four in the morning. I hadn’t talked to the new neighbor since. She was walking towards me.

“How are you?”
“Fine, and you?”
“How’s Brutus? Hello Brutus...” She played with Brutus for a minute.

We were both walking in the direction of my car, she heading down the street, and me thinking about a potential six pack of tall boys at the local corner shop.

“Do you need a ride somewhere?” I asked knowing she doesn’t own a car.
“Uhm... actually... sure, why not. Can you give me a ride to the post office?”
“No problem.”

I put Brutus in the back seat and off we go.

After a couple of minutes of silence.

“Are you still up for it?” She says out of nowhere.
“...”
“Our deal we made the other night?”
“Uhm....”
“Do you remember, we made a deal.”
“Possibly... uhm, I was a little intoxicated the other night.”
“I know, I understand.”
“We decided on something?” I was a little worried.
“You said you’d trade me a bottle of Zubrowka vodka for me fixing the hem of your pants.”
“We agreed on that?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Hell yeah, then...” That sounded like a great deal to me. And, I was relieved I’d made such an innocent offer, remembering part of my thoughts from that night in particular, which had not been as innocent, and also having back-flashes of so many days-after throughout my short but intense university life where people were more often than not very upset with me the next day, and I was almost always totally in the dark at what they might possibly be upset with me about. Such a trade off as a bottle of vodka for some hems fixed up to fit my short legs was illuminating and refreshing at once. I must have matured somewhere in the last fifteen years, though I’m not sure in what manner and at what point this climb towards maturity happened. Probably in small unnoticeable increments, so small I didn’t even realize I was maturing.

I dropped her off at the post office, drove back home, said hello to my landlords on the way back - whom I noticed repairing one of their rental houses a nonpaying tenant had destroyed with the help of a chainsaw - took my leave after chatting for a good twenty minutes, dropped in at the local gas station to buy a six pack, and am naw back home totally happy with my little excursion into the world.