A woman is at my
door. She is not happy.
"Return it now or I
will rip your balls out with a flush cutter and use them as gel pads in my Mizuno
Wave Riders," she says.
"Hi. I’m Alan and you would
be…"
"My name is the burning sensation you'll
feel when I shove my fist up your ass and practice my carpal tunnel exercises
in your lower colon."
"I’ll call you Jenny," I say.
"Give back that magical moment you stole
from Jeffrey," she says.
Jeffrey steps out from behind his girlfriend, waves. I
nod. I met Jeffrey two hours ago outside a Starbucks. He was begging like a homeless person...begging for people to take some of his life's magical moments. Thought I'd do him a favour. Looked like he could use one. Then take those moments and give them to a worthy cause. What charitable organization couldn't use a man's magical moments? Unless the man were, say, Hitler.
"You mean bought," I say.
"For a subway token. Barry Bond's scrotum of a subway token. That magical moment was our 2nd anniversary dinner. Twelve courses of
gastrorgasmic rapture at WD-50 in New York. A bottle of ‘Millsesime Grand Cru’
Brut Pierre Paillard 2002. On a winter night that was like out of an Andreas Feininger
photo."
"No need to go all
Travis Bickle on me. You can have it back. And you can keep the token. You can
also have the other magical moments Jeffrey unloaded on me," I say.
"Other moments?"
"Yes, here..."
“…antiquing on a warm
July Saturday in Prince Edward County…you sold that moment?” She stares at Jeffrey.
“I like antiques. But I’m not crazy about them
like you,” Jeffrey says
“…the first time we
kissed?”
"It was great except...you bit my lip."
“…the early autumn
night on the dock of my brother’s country home on Lake Rosseau where we stared
up at the stars and talked of our future together. You sold him that moment?
That moment!”
“…you pushed me in
the lake after, don’t you remember? I couldn’t swim. I nearly died. Your brother
had to pull me out and give me mouth-to-mouth. At least he didn’t bite my lip.”
"Jeffrey?" Her voice goes soft.
Jeffrey scratches the back of his neck, eyeballs the floor. She raises his chin until they are at eye level. He gently pushes her fingers away. She doesn’t resist.
"Those moments. Those were-. Those were your moments more than my moments," he says.
"They’re both of ours."
"No. You-. You step on my moments. I want magical moments…that are my moments. Mine." He sounds like the Elephant Man when he declares he's not an elephant but a human being.
She continues looking into Jeffrey’s eyes like she's looking for a lost button.
"Okay," she says. Her hands slide up and down Jeffrey's arms. “A magical moment that's all yours.”
He nods.
Her hands travel down his arms. She leans in and whispers in his ear. I can’t make it out. For the first time he smiles. She lowers to her knees. Now, I’m no Dan Savage but I know when a guy is about to get...“Nice meeting you,” I say, close the door, rush to the radio and turn it up.
Then it occurs to me...my ‘Welcome’ mat is in the line of fire. I hunt around for matches, lighter fluid and my winter gloves. Goretex. My search is interrupted by loud knocks. Please be Jehovah’s Witnesses? I open the door to reveal a grinning ‘Jenny’ and Jeffrey.
“We're wondering if you can do us a favour...” Jeffrey says. The two giggle.
“We don’t have enough for a taxi. But we do have a magical moment you might be interested in,” she says. They giggle again. That was one giggle too many.
I quickly shut the door and reach for the Goretex gloves.
