ONE OF THE handsome lads in the group of students is saying, “My father has this thing about getting the whole family together, right?” He pauses to take a pull at a bottle of Anderson’s Denver Beer, pauses again to savor that Denver cachet, and continues: “Like he thinks we all really want to be together, but circumstances keep us apart?” Pause. “Right.”
This is well received. Even Matthew finds himself smiling. He’s listening quite openly; he has no companion to conceal his eavesdropping. The girl with the elastic bottom is served her drink, looks up, and catches sight of Matthew in the mirror behind the bar. Matthew catches sight of her catching him.
Uh-oh, I’m discovered. Glance away? No, that only makes it worse. Hide it somehow. Notebook. Take notes. Disguise myself as a restaurant reviewer.
I’m not certain you can carry that off, BW says. We restaurant reviewers are, as a rule, on the suave and self-possessed side.
“So this year, he calls and goes, ‘We’re spending a week in Brazil.’ I’m like, ‘Brazil? Where is it?’”
“Oh, I went to Brazil,” says one of the girls, not the one who has caught Matthew’s eye. “Or not Brazil exactly? Peru? I had this roommate who was from Peru? And she was always like, ‘Come visit me’? So I go? And I found out that in Peru, if you eat at a café, you know, on the street? The beggars, they come right up to you while you’re eating and go, ‘I’m hungry, can you give me your food?’ It’s terrible. I can’t stand it. They should wait until you’re finished eating — it makes you very upset.”
Ah, yes, says BW. I see what you mean now. They do give you cause for hope, don’t they?
Well, the little one.
I know your hopes for her.
[to be continued]
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🎧 549: One of the . . .