In a week in which I've felt utterly exploited, even sleazily betrayed, by friends, I did not particularly need this.
Lynn called. We've talked a lot more often since Sue's death. Lynn is taking it pretty hard. "Promise me we'll get together for our birthdays this year," she asked during one sober conversation.
"Of course."
Unspoken here is that I will, as I have for years, pay for her trip. Neither Sue nor Lynn had much money, so we all grew accustomed to my paying for their airfare and picking up checks. For her part, Sue always felt guilty, which of course delighted me. "Here, Sue, order an even more expensive steak you won't finish," I would say graciously.
Lynn and I traditionally get together between our birthdays, the first week of July. I noted that the 4th is a Monday and suggested that she come out then. She said she'd get back to me.
This week, she got back to me. "Where does it say that we have to do it between our birthdays?" she said. "Let's to it Memorial Day weekend!"
Awesome, I said. As a bonus, we can pick up my new puppy on our way home from the airport.
"Ah. Yeah. Except Suzie will be picking me up from the airport. I'll be staying with her the first few days while we go to the annual competition."
Lynn comes here every year for this event. I recoiled from the phone as she continued.
"So anyway, I have flights picked out. Do you have a pen?"
And this, gentle reader, is why I'm getting another dog.