drowned with copious
amounts of alcohol.
The hostess had
certainly chosen this table well. Overzealous waiters regularly threw the
swinging door wide open as they emerged from the kitchen and the back of my
chair got bumped.
The first time it
happened really startled me, and I let out a groan, but thereafter I began a
game. Whenever I got bumped I called out a letter to whichever server bothered
to stop and apologize.
If they had the
sense to put their heads together, they would have deduced that over the course
of the evening I spelled out the word “LOSER” letter by letter.
As a special treat
to my stomach, which I greatly regretted later when I was trying to get to
sleep, I ordered the Beef Vindaloo as spicy hot as they could make it.
It was almost
impossible to eat, but with the assistance of numerous bottles of cold Indian
beer, I ate every indigestion-causing morsel.
To add further
indignity to my little pity-fest, at some point in the evening every person in
the place who knew me used the restroom at least once and stopped to chat.
It does wonders
for one’s self-esteem to be seen dining alone in an expensive restaurant on a
Saturday night.
It didn’t help my
mood to realize that Corbett was literally having a ball with Lynne tonight
while I sat with all my friends celebrating my first solid year of loneliness.
In my shabby
little daydreams over the past week, I had regularly entertained the
possibility that I might actually get lucky with Linda as our date night drew
to a close this evening.
Reality can be
such a downer.
My dinner came to
an even hundred bucks including tip. It was by far the most expensive meal I’d
ever eaten alone.
I toyed with the
idea of taking a taxi home but chose not to spend the few dollars. I wasn’t
worth the luxury of a comfortable ride.
As I walked home,
it began to rain lightly but I hardly noticed. The hot spices in my stomach
were easily defeating the cold beer and my entire innards felt like they were
on fire.
Sleep was
impossible so I got back up out of bed and fired up the computer.
Despite being more
than three-quarters pissed, I got on the Expedia travel website and looked at
flights to Las Vegas departing early next week.
Perhaps a few days
away from Kingston would restore my equilibrium. I decided to take a closer
look at the flights in the morning.
Escape was my
method of choice to cope with Linda’s rejection of me.
CHAPTER
11 (Envy)
After chewing
about a dozen Tums, I finally drifted off to sleep around two o’clock.
My stomach was
still on fire when I woke up at nine. A cold shower didn’t do anything to penetrate
the inner heat.
After I got
dressed, I noticed that my computer was still on.
Imagine my surprise
when I saw that drunken me had booked a holiday without my permission.
Just then there
was a knock on my door.
It was Corbett and
Lynne together.
“Hi guys, come on
in,” I announced cheerily. “Would you like some coffee?”
Corbett explained
their presence while I made the coffee.
“Lynne stayed over
with me last night, Tom. This morning she called her sister to see how your
date went and found out that Linda had cancelled on you. We just wanted to make
sure that you were coping okay.”
“Yeah, I’m soldiering
on,” I answered. “I did have supper at that new Indian place last night after
all to celebrate my first year of retirement.”
I turned to Lynne.
“Did Linda tell
you why she had to bail on me?”
“No; our parents
were in the room with her when I called. What happened?”
“Jeremy came back
to Kingston to live with Linda. He got booted out of the apartment by his
girlfriend, and also managed to lose his job at the call center. Your parents
and Jeremy both criticized Linda mercilessly for dating so soon after Paul’s
death so she cancelled our date in order to keep the peace in the family.”
“That little
bastard is going to be the death of my sister,” Lynne snapped. “I know that she
was really
amounts of alcohol.
The hostess had
certainly chosen this table well. Overzealous waiters regularly threw the
swinging door wide open as they emerged from the kitchen and the back of my
chair got bumped.
The first time it
happened really startled me, and I let out a groan, but thereafter I began a
game. Whenever I got bumped I called out a letter to whichever server bothered
to stop and apologize.
If they had the
sense to put their heads together, they would have deduced that over the course
of the evening I spelled out the word “LOSER” letter by letter.
As a special treat
to my stomach, which I greatly regretted later when I was trying to get to
sleep, I ordered the Beef Vindaloo as spicy hot as they could make it.
It was almost
impossible to eat, but with the assistance of numerous bottles of cold Indian
beer, I ate every indigestion-causing morsel.
To add further
indignity to my little pity-fest, at some point in the evening every person in
the place who knew me used the restroom at least once and stopped to chat.
It does wonders
for one’s self-esteem to be seen dining alone in an expensive restaurant on a
Saturday night.
It didn’t help my
mood to realize that Corbett was literally having a ball with Lynne tonight
while I sat with all my friends celebrating my first solid year of loneliness.
In my shabby
little daydreams over the past week, I had regularly entertained the
possibility that I might actually get lucky with Linda as our date night drew
to a close this evening.
Reality can be
such a downer.
My dinner came to
an even hundred bucks including tip. It was by far the most expensive meal I’d
ever eaten alone.
I toyed with the
idea of taking a taxi home but chose not to spend the few dollars. I wasn’t
worth the luxury of a comfortable ride.
As I walked home,
it began to rain lightly but I hardly noticed. The hot spices in my stomach
were easily defeating the cold beer and my entire innards felt like they were
on fire.
Sleep was
impossible so I got back up out of bed and fired up the computer.
Despite being more
than three-quarters pissed, I got on the Expedia travel website and looked at
flights to Las Vegas departing early next week.
Perhaps a few days
away from Kingston would restore my equilibrium. I decided to take a closer
look at the flights in the morning.
Escape was my
method of choice to cope with Linda’s rejection of me.
CHAPTER
11 (Envy)
After chewing
about a dozen Tums, I finally drifted off to sleep around two o’clock.
My stomach was
still on fire when I woke up at nine. A cold shower didn’t do anything to penetrate
the inner heat.
After I got
dressed, I noticed that my computer was still on.
Imagine my surprise
when I saw that drunken me had booked a holiday without my permission.
Just then there
was a knock on my door.
It was Corbett and
Lynne together.
“Hi guys, come on
in,” I announced cheerily. “Would you like some coffee?”
Corbett explained
their presence while I made the coffee.
“Lynne stayed over
with me last night, Tom. This morning she called her sister to see how your
date went and found out that Linda had cancelled on you. We just wanted to make
sure that you were coping okay.”
“Yeah, I’m soldiering
on,” I answered. “I did have supper at that new Indian place last night after
all to celebrate my first year of retirement.”
I turned to Lynne.
“Did Linda tell
you why she had to bail on me?”
“No; our parents
were in the room with her when I called. What happened?”
“Jeremy came back
to Kingston to live with Linda. He got booted out of the apartment by his
girlfriend, and also managed to lose his job at the call center. Your parents
and Jeremy both criticized Linda mercilessly for dating so soon after Paul’s
death so she cancelled our date in order to keep the peace in the family.”
“That little
bastard is going to be the death of my sister,” Lynne snapped. “I know that she
was really
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