The scent of nutmeg proceeded our encounter. Shoulder to shoulder, our lips less than an inch apart. I saw my surprise mirrored in her eyes. Under any other circumstance I'm sure I would have acted differently, but with her breath on my cheek, I touched her lips with mine as one would expect with true love's first embrace. She then slapped me, and disappeared into the crowds of Xercses dance club.
I stood there wondering what had possessed me. I didn't know whether to rub my shoulder where we had impacted, or whether to rub my cheek that now stung and must be turning red. She had a good arm.
"Who was she?" I wondered out loud. No one heard over the volume of the music. The base thumped seductively and the air was filled with steam and smoke.
I sat down on the thumping base in the middle of the back wall of the dance floor. I crossed my legs with my sneakers under my tattered jeans and my back stiffening against the abnormally cold brick wall.
One layer of bricks separated me from winter's fury. Not much when you think of it. If the mortar didn't hold, I'd fall through the thin brick wall three floors to the street below.
I shivered.
She was beautiful. Still, why would I do that?
I could still smell the nutmeg in the air and now on my cheek. That was an odd smell ... yet, ... alluring. Had she been baking? Or, was that a perfume of some sort. I'm sure it wasn't chewing gum.
"Betty Crocker's first fragrance," I laughed. I didn't laugh inside though. I usually smelled like horse, so nutmeg wasn't really that bad. The kiss was real, even if out of line. I meant it.
I decided to rub my cheek. It felt like she caught me with her finger nails. No blood, but I was sure that was going to leave a mark.
The thumping of the bass moved my whole body, and the cold brown brick was making my back ache. Rhythm and movement made themselves manifest all around me as I slowly forgot about my reddening cheek.
It seemed that everyone was with someone. I didn't stand a chance of hooking up with a woman, even the ones that rammed into me on the dance floor. I rubbed my shoulder this time. That hurt.
My thoughts wandered else where. I had enough money now. I had been saving and and eating nothing but ramen noodles for months, but I had saved enough money that I had to make a decision. I could either buy a car, or pay for another quarter in my lingering college career.
I new what I wanted. I wanted a car. Then I could date. You can't date in this town without a car. It just can't be done. I had tried, and got some very interesting comments when I said I'd pay our bus fare. I even had one date walk back up to her apartment and not answer when I tried to get buzzed in.
Cars cost money, though. Insurance, repairs, gas. They all add up. I tried over and over to talk myself into buying a car.
So the music beat on, and the cacophony of movement gyrated obscenely into the night and I made no decision. I left my seat only when they turned on the lights well after 3:00 AM. I lost my hidden perch. Now I was not hidden in the dark, but on a pinnacle spot lighted in the no longer secure dispersing crowds. I needed to move out before a bouncer escorted me out.
I walked home to my apartment. My roomate was already asleep. I quitely watched TV and fell asleep on "his" couch watching "his" TV. It wasn't much better than living at home, and now I couldn't even borrow a car from my folks.
I was alone when I woke up. It was around noon. My roomate must have turned off the TV, because I was pretty sure I didn't. Work didn't start for another couple of hours, so I took my time getting off the couch.
I spotted a neighbor, Todd, when I finally walked down the stairs to the street.
"How's it, Jake?"
"It's, ... it's good."
"I'm headed over to Woodland's, want to come?"
I nodded, "I can probably afford a sandwich."
"What? And break your ramen diet?"
"I got the bank statement yesterday. I have enough for the car."
"Or school," Todd added. "Look what its done for me."
Todd spread his arms begging examination. He looked like a vagrant. His second hand suede coat looked worse than rags. His dreads were shoulder length and threatening to mildew. His scraggly blond beard wasn't much more appealing.
"Yeah," I muttered. "You're and an inspiration."
"I'm telling you, do the school. It got me my own business."
"You're a panhandler."
"Street performer," Todd corrected me.
"One off." I smiled weakly. I winced at the pain in my cheek. I thought I caught Todd checking out the red marks, but he pretended he didn't notice.
We traded jibes while we treaded the sidewalk to the Deli. Woodland Deli was crowded. The line was out the door. Shivering patrons stamped their feet and rubbed their hands waiting for the line to move. No one gave up the wait however. You couldn't beat Woodland's prices, not in this town.
"It's going to look like he deleted it." One of the two men in front of us spoke softly, but a definite tone of glee rung from his words. "Bye-bye Mikie."
"No more 'Mr. Thomas'. I'm so sick of that, 'Your not good enough to call me Mike' attitude." The other whispered back.
Todd started talking about something, so I couldn't hear anything else, now that my interest was peaked. There would be no way to get Todd to be quiet without the two men in light suits in from of us catching on that I was overhearing them.
I dropped my effort to hear more and tried to figure out what Todd was talking about. I couldn't get the whispered conversation out of my mind though. Every time there was a pause for even the briefest moment in the conversation, my mind drifted back to the two suits and they're plan.
I had the hunch they were setting someone up to get fired. I was half tempted to track down this "Mikie Thomas" and warn him. I doubted I'd succeed. There were probably a thousand M. Thomas's in the phone book.
Before I knew it, it was time to get to work. It was one.
"I've got to go Todd."
"Work?"
"Yeah. Those carriages don't drive themselves."
"Let the horses do it." Todd joked.
"They could, ... but what if someone wants to pay with credit card? What then?"
I said my goodbyes and walked three blocks to the carriage house. It was cold with no wind. That's a good kind of cold. You can stay warm just by moving. When you stopped moving the chill would get to you though. I arrived quickly.
"How are you today, my equine partner?" I said over the stall door to Chunky.
My boss hated it when I called him Chunky, but he was. Besides, the name my boss called him was unpronounceable and a bit stupid.
It wasn't long before he was hitched to the nice Vis-A-Vis carriage. I got to the new one before anyone else. I waited until I was away from the carriage house, and put on some tunes.
Chunky must have liked them, because the ponderous clip-clop of his hooves synced up with the music.
"Heh, Chunky. Don't get too attached to the music. You know we have to turn it off when we're giving rides.
"I wonder what a woman would do if I showed up at her door with you on our first date? I don't think 'romantic' is in fashion now-a-days. I'm not sure you would count as romantic anyways. You're a little on the plump side."
Chunky snorted, but didn't miss a beat with his clip-clop, and the carriage moved slowly down the street toward the center of town, cars swerving in and out trying to get around Chunky and I. Mostly they were courteous. Most had been on the carriage rides before, so put up with the nuisance of having us on the roads.
I had only given one ride before it started to get dark. It began to get really cold, so I pulled on my hat, mittens and scarf. That helped a little, but sitting motionless on a cold driver's seat of a carriage doesn't really warm you up.
It started to snow lightly. I smiled. That always improved business and tips. Little wind and light snow was very good for business.
Sure enough.
"We could do a carriage ride," I caught the tail end of a conversation from behind me. It was a man's voice. It was a high raspy voice, but a man's. I'm sure it was the typical, now that we've eaten, what next date question. Those were good for business too.
"Excuse me. How much for a carriage ride?"
"Forty," I started, then turning stopped. It was her. I turned away before she recognized me.
Just my luck, I muttered. It was the woman who slapped me last night. She was on a date with some old guy. If she was alone, I'd just apologize and ask her out, if she'd go for that without slapping me again. But, this would be a bit awkward if she recognized me now.
"Do you take credit card?"
The man had walked around to face me on the driver's seat. Luckily, she had not.
I said, "Sure thing." I was as polite and cheerful as my nerves would let me be.
"What do you say Sarah?" He asked the woman of my dreams. "How about a ride?"
"I'd like that."
They climbed into the back while I avoided looking behind me at his date. The man handed me his card and I ran it on my reader. It came up fine. I looked at the signature: Michael L. Thomas. That sounded familiar. His signature matched the one he signed, so I handed him back his card and a receipt, and we were off.
The snow picked up a little.
"If you two get cold, I have a couple of blankets up here you can use," said with out looking back.
"We're fine," they responded.
We were at a stop light that was red now. I had to restrain Chunky. He could hear when the light was about to change and always wanted to get started before it actually did change to green. It hit me almost the same instant the traffic light turned green.
I didn't even think, I turned back and blurted, "Mikie!"
"What did you call me?"
At the same time Michael spoke I heard a gasp from the woman. I was caught off guard by my own stupidity again. I need to just lock myself in a padded room for everyone's good.
"Dad! That's the guy from last night!" I heard her say in astonishment.
"I overheard two men planning to get you fired," I tried to say, but Michael was already demanding I stop the carriage.
"You assaulted my daughter and stole a kiss from her?!"
"I, ... uh, ... they're going to frame you for deleting some file...." I said weakly, but they were gone and probably didn't hear anything I said. "Hey! She ran into me."
The honking began, and I realized the light had changed again, and I was blocking the intersection. There was a cop standing on the corner too. He was motioning for me to come pull up to him.
"Well, Chunky. Guess we're not getting a tip from that ride."
I did as the officer had motioned for me to do.
Did she call him "Dad"?
I talked my way out of a ticket. I decided to try for another ride or two. I got them, and even got some good tips. I still felt miserable and was glad to pull into the carriage house.
"Jake, boss wants to talk to you." Someone said. I wasn't paying attention enough to care who.
What could he want?
Several weeks passed before I ran into Todd again. I had been unemployed for all that time. Luckily I had my ex-car money to fall back on. I was heading home from a job interview when I ran into him on the walk out in front of my apartment. It took him a little doing, but he talked me into walking down to the deli with him.
We talked as we wandered down to the shop.
"So you warn the guy that he about to be framed and loose his job, and he has you fired?!" Todd spoke incredulously.
"I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah."
"Then you're roomy moves out, sticking you with his share of the rent?"
"Yeah. Kinda sucks."
"How's the ramen?"
I laughed.
I looked up, and saw Chunky with an older carriage and some guy I didn't know driving. This was the first time I saw him since I'd been fired. Seeing Chunky undid the humor that Todd had injected into my day. Of course the horse had blinders on, but I had to wonder if the horse missed me. I shook myself out of it.
I returned to the subject of ramen. It seemed as good as any.
"I'm mixing in some hot dogs for variety. One day dogs, the next ramen. I figured I can afford one hot dog without a bun or two packages of ramen every day. So I'd better find a job soon."
Todd shook his head looking down as they walked.
"Any luck finding a new job?"
"Not yet. I'm going to have to find some place too lazy to call my last employer. He still thinks I 'stole' a kiss and rammed into that girl during the carriage ride, don't ask me how."
We reached the Woodland Deli. Todd smiled.
"Jake, I'll buy."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I've made more than enough performing today. I'm probably going to call it a day by three.
"By the way, no more calling me a panhandler. Consider the sandwich a bribe," he grinned.
"Bribes work. I won't call you a panhandler anymore. At least not 'til after I've finished the sandwich," I joked. "I promise."
"So, which were you going to do?"
"What?"
"Car or College?"
"I decided on the car."
"You don't need a car. You need school, so you can get a better job."
I ignored the scolding, seeing as he was paying for the food.
The cafe had an unusual scent of nutmeg this morning. I instantly thought back to the dance club and put my hand to my cheek.
"Hello Jacob," a woman with an unfamiliar voice said from behind Todd and I.
We turned and there was Sarah from the club.
"I was just thinking of you," I said removing my hand from my cheek. "You're not going to slap me or have me thrown out of the deli, are you?"
"We haven't met," Todd hinted for an introduction.
"Todd, this is the woman of my dreams. Dream girl, this is Todd." I took care of introductions. I think she blushed a little.
"Sarah," she clarified. Then to me she said, "I'm sorry about my Father having you fired. That was overboard."
"And slapping me?"
"You deserved that. I'd slap you again."
I winced and made a note not to kiss her again without a signed permission slip.
She continued, "Anyway, I wanted to thank you. Your warning saved my dad's job. Those two clowns got the axe instead."
"Firings all around! Woohoo!" Todd piped up.
Sarah looked at him in his panhandler attire.
"You're cute," she said to Todd.
"I can be cute, too." I said.
"You're on probation," she fired back with a very pretty grin.
"Anyway, thanks again. You're not so bad."
She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. She also slipped me a paper. She quickly retreated out of the deli. My day just improved. I was glad Todd had talked me into this walk.
"What'd she give you?" Todd asked.
"A kiss."
"News flash."
"Her phone number," I said in disbelief.
"Hope she likes ramen."
"Funny."