Talking
online, and we hadn't seen each other in months at least. It was decided that our separation must end so we would go off together into the
rain. After driving through puddles and splashing innocent
pedestrians, Jen thought of an idea. From the inside of her jacket she produced a
Frisbee. At her suggestion, I drove to a
gas station on the road leading out of town. Once we got there we went inside and greeted the lonely
Indian fellow working the
late night shift. Apparently, in her travels through the town in the morning hours when everyone else is asleep she had befriended this man and would spend
time keeping him
company until the morning came. This night, I was their guest.
Outside the bulletproof glass, the streets were flooding in the midst of a large thunderstorm, complete with ground striking lightning and the occasional dramatic burst of wind. The roads were empty so there was little danger of interruption. We stood amongst the gas pumps in a triangular formation and tossed the Frisbee-diving on the concrete to retrieve missed throws, stomping and splashing in the lake formed by the overflowing manholes. In time, we got daring enough to run blindly into the street, and the game spread across the four-lane road. When cars pulled in to get gas we had to stop and receive odd looks from drivers wondering what form of madness had urged us into the surrounding maelstrom. Several ill-timed throws nearly broke windows on these machines, but overall we managed to avoid any trouble.
2am- thoroughly soaked and shivering we returned to the inside of the auto-shop convenience store. Another friend of the gas attendant showed up and we all sat around eating free junk food and taking turns drying up with towels and blasts from the small portable heater behind the counter. We talked about psychotherapy-the attendant's friend was a doctor-and he regaled us with stories of his more interesting patients. Eventually, Jen and I began to feel the runny nosed fatigue of our nighttime adventures and go home. 5am I return home and get sick for the remainder of the weekend. I haven't seen her since.