Fletcher’s

There weren't even curtains in the front room
And I couldn't sleep once the sun showed up with its heavy August heat
So I sat up on the couch and surveyed the wreckage
Still wearing my wristband, which always makes it worse

The bars had been whatever, we shouldn't have even bothered
But after we went back to Fletcher's with the best part of a handle
And a plan to lay out the remainder on the table
Listen to some records and suck up whatever Saturday was left

Then Fletcher got the text from this chick Steph he'd met last weekend
Said she was out with girlfriends and they had gone out dancing
But now the clubs were closing and they're all dressed up
They didn't really want to go home quite yet

So then there were the three of them drinking vodka in the kitchen. Tiny shiny dresses, Steph and two others. One of them was gorgeous but seemed a little stand-off
So I chatted up the short one, until she brought up her boyfriend

A little later some kids we used to skate with came traipsing up the stairs with a case of Coors Banquet. Said they saw the lights on and thought that they should check in. They entered with their arms raised like victors. The whole thing had momentum

And I was standing on the staircase looking over the proceedings
Thinking that these dudes were mostly decent and I'd known them all forever, and friends should stick together, and I'm sick of all the sadness
And I gotta stop thinking about Seattle, it's probably good enough right here

But then back there in the morning with the bottles and the fruit flies and the ashtrays and the headache and the heavy sun and sticky floors, I wasn't really sure if I thought that it was good anymore. Found my shoes in the foyer in a jumble of sneakers and one silver high heel

Steph came out of Fletcher's bedroom and went into the bathroom. She was trying to be quiet but I think I heard her vomit. She ran the water a long time and she came out chewing gum. Still in the same dress she'd worn out to the clubs

Once I put my shoes on, I went out to the sidewalk and squinted in the bright light. She came out and stood there on the front steps with the high heel in her purse. The sunlight made sparkles on her sequins. I wished I had my shades

She cursed her friends that left her. Said she couldn't wait for Fletcher. She asked if I had cigs and I did. She spit her gum in the gutter. Leaned in as I lit it. At first she smelled like spearmint, and then she smelled like smoke

7:00 am Sunday we walked down University towards Broadway. Stopped to get some coffee. She told me she's a hostess at a restaurant. And in spring she'd started at Aveda but she couldn't really deal so she just stopped showing up

Now she's staying at her mother's in New Brighton. Trying to save some money. But her mother can't stay sober and she's sort of scared to leave her. Eventually she'd like to live somewhere just a little warmer
But for now it's probably good enough right here

It's good enough right here

On a bench along the river we watched a dragonfly and it's partner hover just above the water. She said she loves summer and she's sad it's almost over. She gets depressed around September. Reminds her of going back to school

I told her how last year I'd gone out to Seattle for a wedding and my cousin took us sailing on Lake Union. And in the middle of the stillness I felt an urgency to live where nobody knows me. Where all my prior sins couldn't be held against me

I keep thinking about just moving there and crashing with my cousin. Doin' landscaping or somethin'. But my cousin has two children and Seattle's expensive and funds have been elusive
It'll probably never happen and that's probably just as well

Because I don't want to be some dude that makes a big deal out of moving then comes back a few months later, a total goddamn failure. Like when Fletcher went to Denver, he had three kegs at his send off. Then he came back before Christmas and everyone was laughing

And they won't let him forget it and they won't let him outlive it. Behind his back they call him Rocky Mountain Fletcher. They'll destroy you just for trying something different. And now my voice was cracking. Pretty close to crying. She put her head against my shoulder

Said the ones we've known longest can pull us down the strongest
I put my arm around her and we sat and watched the water
Jealous of the movement of the current but maybe for a moment
It was pretty good right here