Chapter 109

Reggie and I spent the afternoon just driving around town. We checked out restaurants for dinner and where exactly the Portland Inn was located. The Inn was a very fancy name for a shabby downtown motel. It was obviously outside the downtown rehab area. It was headed toward oblivion, and should be there in a few year. It was a good thing we got to town when we did, if we wanted to hang out there.

"So it's dinner at Elizabeth's Italian restaurant and then on to the Portland Inn's lounge," I suggested to Reggie.

"That Portland Inn looks pretty seedy. Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked.

"You are the one who told me she wanted to see how people, who have never been to Starbuck's live," I reminded her.

"Yes, but that place may be a little more grunge than I can cope with," she suggested.

"All right little girl, you can either get picked up while having dinner at Elizabeth's Italian, or you can come with me to the Inn. I'm going, with or without you," I admitted.

"What do we do, if we both get lucky?" she asked.

"I guess we play it by ear. I will tell you this, it wouldn't be the first time I did it with another people in the room," I replied thinking back over the last few years. I definitely did not plan to tell her how it happened.

"Alright, let's go back and watch the news on the computer, then get dressed for dinner and the lounge," Reggie suggested.

The news was depressing but I refused to allow anything to depress me. I managed to ignore the parts that would have brought me down. Reggie and I took turns at the hot shower. It didn't run out of hot water, so they had a great tank somewhere. We were each in the shower for a long time trying to shake the bone chilling cold rain. For me it was worse, I hadn't been warm since my run in the rain in the morning. I just could not shake the chill, but I was determined to go through with our evening out. It was way past time I got away from the job.

On the news I really bummed that there was even more shit in Afghanistan. It was never going to end. I personally liked George Bush's style, but he should have consulted with the Russians before he sent in troops. His replacement decided that it was a war, we could actually win. Every politician was so arrogant, they refused to learn the lessons of history. They were even going to allow a country with a half dozen nukes to blackmail us into giving them millions in aid, which they passed along to our enemies in the field. Jesus we were in effect buying them IED's, like the one that rattled my brain. If I had the money I would sue the government for my brain injury. Okay, It wasn't a permanent thing, but it sure scared the hell out of me.

What the hell was I thinking, I was in the room with an almost beautiful young woman and we were about to go out for a night on the town. Why was I letting those times resurface at that moment. Maybe I was brain damaged after all.

"Hey Reggie, we can't go to dinner till after seven and it's only four what the hell you want to do till then," I asked.

"Well I h ave already told you, I'm not gay, if you had that in mind." She said it with a smile, so that I wouldn't lose my temper at her. It probably would have worked on anyone else.

"Look Reggie, sex between us is not an option. You have told me, you are not that kind of girl, and I don't force myself on people. Plus we are employees of the same people. That is the second no, no and third and most important, I just don't find little girls attractive," I said.

"Well I guess you told me," she said angrily.

"Yeah, well you shouldn't answer questions before they are asked. Now would you like to go to the movies this afternoon. It's to cold and wet to do anything outside," I said just to piss her off.

"Oh that's what you meant," she said.

"Yeah, we could dress for dinner then go to the movies and dinner. Then, if you don't want to dress slutty, we could go from there to the club. If you do, we could come back and change," I said.

"What are you planning to do," she asked.

"I thought I would come back after dinner to change into my slut rags," I said.

"Oh I can't go in there looking all prim and shit, if your are going to do that. Okay movie, Italian food, and then orgy," she said. "I was only kidding about the orgy."

"It's alright I think I know now that you are all talk. Just be careful some of these New England fisherman types might not get it like I do." I said.

"Most likely you won't get it either," she said with that pixie smile again.

"You are hopeless," I said. I on the other hand was not smiling.

We managed to find a revival theater in town. Lots of towns had them in their renovated downtowns. It was a old but small theater. Most of those theaters were grand old music halls. This one probably seated a hundred people. It had a 4PM showing of Casablanca. I couldn't believe it, when Reggie said she had never seen it.

"Well that will never do. You can not grow up without seeing this movie," I said. "I saw it on the public broadcasting channel late one night. I always wanted to see it in a theater. There is a different feeling watching a film in a theater," I said.

"Alright I will skip the latest teenage vampire movie and watch Casablanca, but who is Humphrey Bogart," she asked. "What a dork name."