Friday with Ann

I pick her up for lunch ~ and she asks me to fix her remote ~ it only needs a battery so I put it in my pocket for later ~ I comment on the lovely Spanish courtyard outside her place ~ she says she’s not comfortable living there anymore ..all the neighbors are conspiring against her. When I ask why, she says that they’re mostly college students who depend on their parents ..however, they only take one class a semester and they party until dawn so their parents are really supporting their drinking habit. I ask if that bothers her. Yeah, she says, I’ve complained about it so many times that now I’m the one who’s being evicted. That doesn’t make any sense I say ~ she says it happens all the time ..fucking landlords. At lunch, I want to take the time to enjoy my food and listen to her story ..she’s between jobs so I ask her, if she had the opportunity ..what would she like to do the most ~ write a novel, she says ~ fiction or non-fiction, I ask ~ autobiography, she says ~ does writing come easy for you ..or do you struggle with it like me ? ~ easy, she says ~ I tell her what a gift she has ..and ask her if she keeps a journal ~ no, she says ~ so I suggest that she start a blog ~ and she says that she doesn’t want other people reading about her personal life ~ besides, she has no interest in the Internet ..it’s run by a bunch of cocksuckers (Cox cable) and is full of mistakes. She wolfs down her food and rushes me along ~ says she needs to be doing something more productive ..we leave before I am finished ~ I drop her off at her house and drive away ~ she calls to tell me that she can’t find her remote ~ I remember that I have it in my pocket ..so I tell her I’ll drive by radio shack and get a new battery ~ on the way, I take a brisk walk along State street ~ chat with my sister over the phone ~ watch the sunset ~ do some grocery shopping ~ buy a new CD at Borders ~ replace the battery at Radio Shack ~ have a fruit juice at Blenders ~ watch the full moon from the top of a parking structure ~ and return to drop off the remote ~ she invites me in and I sit down on the floor ~ we enjoy a little hashish and I ask her if she would like to hear my new CD ~ it’s not rap or hip hop is it? she asks ~ no, I say ..it’s ‘alternative country’ ..a female duo I saw on one of the late night talk shows ~ she goes on to tell me that she’s always writing Leno to tell him how great his show is ..says he needs that ..she remembers when Letterman had a morning talk show ..she liked him better then .. she’s really bummed about what happened to Stevie Ray Vaughn ..can I imagine what’d be like to die in a helicopter crash ..have I ever been to New York ? ..there’s a street called ‘Maiden Lane’ where the buildings are from the original Dutch settlement ..what’s the matter Lee, don’t you ever watch the ‘History Channel’ ? Meanwhile, I have to admit ..I’ve been listening to the mandolins and thinking about the moon outside.