At Mickey's

Walking into Mickey’s, we saw only a few people. A tall, lanky guy who was standing over the jukebox looked familiar – a lot like Shad. Shad was a good friend of a former roommate/friend of mind, Wally, and is a guitarist/singer in the local band, Brickshithouse. Not being able to see his face, I wasn’t sure if it was him and so Pam and I took a couple seats at one end of the bar. We ordered a couple barley pops and began talking about how great an experience the class had been. Some loud music started booming through the bar. While I forget what it was, I do recall Pam enjoying it. She talked about her trip to Madison a couple weeks previously and about how she, Bill, and their friends had gone to the Lava Lounge whose jukebox had impressed her. The guy at the jukebox returned to his stool just across from ours. As Pam and I chatted, my eyes glanced over at him – he looked just like Shad. It had to be him. Finally our glances met and we recognized one another. Not having seen one another in several years, we asked each other how the other was doing, what we had been up to the past 7 or 8 years since we’d last seen one another, and the like. I’d heard that he and Mia had finally gotten married and he confirmed this saying that things were well. They lived not too far from me, in fact. I asked about Britt, the drummer in Tongue, the band Shad was in last we spoke. Britt had moved to Florida and was still there, married’n’all. I was hesitant to ask about Wally since he and I had parted on bad terms but did so anyway. He was still in contact with him. Wally had finished school and was living in Stoughton and seeking employment in his field. Shad wasn’t sure what this field was – fluvial or aquatic something-or-other. In any event, I was happy to hear that Wally was doing well. I drifted back to Pam trying to jolt her memory into recalling Wally whom she’d met at least once. My conversation with Shad ended as he began to talk to the bartender and another patron. Looking out the window, I guesstimated the hour and figured that The Dulcinea was now available so I asked the bartender to use the phone. I called her and told her to meet Pam and I to which she replied that she’d be there in about 20 minutes.

Pam and I continued to blather on about music, rope tying, and life up north when we were in high school together. After a while, I had to use the men’s room. While standing at urinal, I looked out the window and noticed The Dulcinea traipsing up the sidewalk. For no good reason, I felt a bit nervous. Would she and Pam get along? A few seconds after returning to my stool, The Dulcinea walked in and introductions were made. I really needn’t have worried as they got along fine. It wasn’t long before they too started talking about music, specifically their love of British Seapower. Sometime later, The Dulcinea recognized a guy with whom she went to high school and they started chatting. As they did their thing, Pam and I once again did ours. She related to me a funny incident from high school. She had somehow ended up in bed with a former classmate of ours, Ernie. Things got hot’n’heavy between them but, before she’d allow Ernie to wax his wick, she told him that he’d need to wear a condom. He disappeared for a moment and then returned. Pam said that she heard this crinkling noise, very uncondomlike. Since he did not have any rubbers, Ernie improvised in the most Marine-like way. Pam described how, once a little light was shed on the situation, she discovered that he’d tried to sheath himself with the wrapper of a candy bar. The things we guys do for sex.

Pam called her hubby to check in as it was getting late. Well, not really late but we had planned on only a couple beers so Pam could get home as she had to teach yoga the next morning. We had been there a few hours and the three of us were inebriated. So we decided to head back to my house where Pam could sober up a bit before heading home.