Same As It Ever Was

Well after all, Pickering, I'm an ordinary man,
Who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance,
to live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants...

An average man am I, of no eccentric whim,
Who likes to live his life, free of strife,
doing whatever he thinks is best, for him,
Well... just an ordinary man...

Henry Higgins, I'm an Ordinary Man

Ok, lets get back to it. It's summer. I mean the hot summer weather has been here for over a week, but I have only started to enjoy its benefits over the last 72 hours because of my week long detox from fashion week and other such ills and faux pas.

So I am lying on my bed in my underwear, eating a peanut butter cookie and a glass of milk for dinner, when Remington calls to tell me he just finished eight hours of sewing for some twit with too much money and no talent. Shortly thereafter we were headed for the taps, and enjoyed pint after pint in the burning amber of the setting sun. We talked about how excited we were to see everyone later in the week. Leroy would be returning from the East in the morning, Chic would finally be free after she had been busy the past month with an opening at a gallery here in the hometown, Ivy had just returned with her band of merry pranksters performing their puppet show in little towns all over the province, and I was out of detox! So Remington and I, who are apt to celebrate the budding of table flowers were ecstatic about the prospects of everyone together in the same room. But that won't be happening until Friday, so let us move on.

It was turning dark, and while I was in mid sentence with Remington, raving about the the audacity of the Henry Higgins character played by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, his cell phone began to ring. It wasn't for him though, it was for me. It was Katie, wanting to know what I was up to and if I would be interested in coming over for a cocktail. Never one to turn down a drink, especially served in the lovely confines of Katie's apartment overlooking the south, I wrapped it up with Remington and high tailed it over to her place. Imagine my surprise then, when she answered the door wearing the loveliest turquoise lace panties matched with a pair of black fishnet thigh highs. She sat me down on the couch and served me gin and olives complete with serving tray and napkin. It was all done with a little tongue in cheek banter about the rules of the club, and that security would escort me out of the building should I not follow the evenings mandate. Round after round, Katie's black Fluevog heels would click on the floor as she would return from the kitchen with more gin. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. The apartment, with the windows wide open to the city below seemed to fill with heat, smells, and sounds. The city seemed to be teeming with energy and life, anger even. Horns were honking, sirens were wailing, and I could hear some guy yelling, "ya really cool, you fucker!" from the street below as the whole scene faded to black, and Katie and I fell backwards onto her bed.

I slipped into a heavy, dead sleep, vacant of dreams. I awoke early, refreshed and rested. I quickly found myself at a cafe downstairs, sipping coffee and smoking in the sunshine. It was a glorious morning, and I managed to pack everything I would normally do on a day off into the first 40 minutes of the day. I lazed the afternoon away at work on iChat with Frannie, she sent me pictures of all the new clothes she had bought over the weekend and I sent links for her approval of a suitable patio for after work hi-balls. Five o'clock never seemed to come so fast when I bolted out the back door of the office and hopped into Tony's convertible roadster. We were off to meet Frannie and one of her colleagues in the film industry on the eastern side of town. Yet another sunset. This one I watched sink low into the horizon, hiding behind the cityscape, and lighting the glass of the skyscrapers into a glaze of glowing steel and chrome. The sun eventually took refuge behind the mountains and the city began to sparkle in the twilight. I could see it clearly now, from the fourth floor view of Marianela's apartment, Frannie's friend that joined us on the patio earlier with Tony and I. As it turned out, my good friend Louella, who I shared a studio with for several years happened to be living next door, so I knocked on the door to her apartment, and she happily obliged to join us in Marianela's place. It was nice to see Louella, I remember having a mammoth crush on her when we shared a studio in art school together. And well, not much has changed since then, she is simply lovely.

Frannie took me home in her 68 Camaro, and as we flew underneath the viaducts the engine roared with a sound that cars today are incapable of. My arm was out the open window as we sped along laughing about some of the idiotic things I had said earlier on. By the time I arrived home, I was quite drunk, and I stumbled to my guitar to play some song, I don't remember which one. I bet my neighbours just love me. My last thoughts before finally falling asleep returned again to Henry Higgins, the staunch ageing defender of bachelorhood in My Fair Lady. Then I thought of Katie, and the evening we spent together and how difficult she is making it on my own declaration of bachelorhood throughout the summer, and it's not even May yet!? You just might never hear from me again. I will be sitting above the streets, a gin and tonic in one hand, and a very fair lady in the other.