He sat alone at the bar in the saloon, ruminating about this or that circumstance in his life, keeping his mind alert and exercised by ponderings of ineffables. Every day lived seemed filled with both the mundane and the miraculous, and his job was to avoid capture and imprisonment, while maintaining a serene yet powerful command of his place in the order of things. Little did he know at 5:01pm, that at 5:02pm he would be a man forever changed.
At 5:02pm he looked over at the dining hall, and beheld a most beautiful young woman dashing back and forth serving the diners and drinkers who filled the room. She was a summer rose and he couldn’t avert his gaze for even a second, though propriety dictated that he appear indifferent and tame his leering eyes.
‘Oh my god’ he thought, ‘she’s not real’. He was sipping water, so wasn’t being influenced by whiskey or gin, yet felt intoxicated and giddy watching her movements. He being an older gentleman with a reputation to maintain, he shook his head and turned away for a sip of water and a nibble of the taco he’d been slowly consuming. Glancing out the window he saw a dark thunderhead forming, then proceeded to again observe, as politely as possible, the server gal who’d caught his eye and schooled him in the true meaning of beauty and grace.
He paid the bartender, left a modest tip, and walked out of the saloon a somewhat changed man. On his drive home he chastised himself for having allowed himself to be weakened by the sight of a woman young enough to be his own daughter. But excellence is what it is, and inspiration comes in many forms.
In the days to come, while working in the neighborhood, he found himself taking lunch at the very same saloon, and lo and behold one day spied her serving the tables around him, then saw that she was moving toward his table and would be his server. His heart was pounding like a jackhammer! Was this love at first sight? Who is this elf wonder? Being just a simple-minded country boy at heart, it took all he had to not blurt out “I know I’m just a geezer, and you’re heaven sent, but can we be friends?”
Being a realist though regarding such matters, and accepting that a book shant be judged by it’s cover, he probed just a little to discern whether her intellect was refined or base, and he was delighted to discover that she had a formidable mind to accompany her obvious material assets. Truly a temptress goddess! As time fell by, his lunches were spent hoping for interactions with her, and his affection for her was growing and maturing. Being civilized though, he recognised that there were too many years between them for hopes of a healthy relationship to be forged. But what the hell. Love must not be denied!!! He was reduced to leaving notes under her car’s wiper blades, encouraging her to risk friendship with him. He’d never acted in such a fashion before, so was dazed and confused whenever he saw her.
One lunchhour she shocked him by handing him a scrap of paper with her phone number, etched as if penned by an angel. They made plans to meet by the river at the bistro, and to perhaps grow their friendship. At that meeting she revealed that she was a sax player without a horn of her own. He was a lutist, and knew right away that his job as her friend was to find her a sax. And that perhaps they would one day play lute and sax duets. He sometimes sat down by the river, playing his lute, thinking about her, wishing she was sittting beside him, blowing her horn!
Just a bit later in this love story he managed to acquire a sax for her. She’d revealed that she lived with a man, so he was hoping that her practicing her horn would drive the man away, thus increasing the chances of them playing lute and sax duets together. The ways of love being what they are though, he came to the realization that at that moment in time, their friendship was doomed, and he needed to move on. He messaged as much to her and tried to forget about her. Years later he understood that she’d married and had a child or two. But he never once stopped wanting to play lute and sax duets with her. And she’d never stopped being an inspiration to him. Perhaps one day they’d play a duet together!
CP Butchvarov 2024