“I’m glad they put the trees here. They hold off the wind. Get me a beer.”
“She said she waited almost an hour.”
“I think we should leave.”
“When she finally went to the door for the last time, he was gone.”
“Did she see anything, a car, a truck, something red or tan?”
“The trees block the wind. It’s nice.”
He waited for the cloud that had emerged behind the trees to turn into a dragon. At the moment it was a dog, a big mountain dog, the kind that carries bourbon or Cognac to men with broken legs on ski trips.
“I think we should leave. It’s getting on. Late, you know.”
“I’d like another drink. Just one more.”
A Chihuahua, a small yappy thing that nips at your heels. He remembered a friend had one. He remembered looking down, the small dog looking up with the ceiling lamp in its eyes.
“I hope she keeps her doors locked.”
“I don’t know if it will involve money. I don’t think she has it. She regrets asking him.”
A waiter with froth, red and white, a platter with fruit and cheese. He turns above a table. Lowers the beer, the wine, the cheese. He smiles and turns away.
“I think it means we should take a new direction.”
“I think we should leave. It’s getting late.”
“Remember the Rembrandt? It was the size of a wall. It was a wall of light, a wall of black, and, if I remember correctly, someone was coming alive.”
“It’s not late. Look, the sun’s behind that cloud. Look how the wind shakes the trees.”
“Then she shouldn’t have encouraged him. She shouldn’t have persisted. She should have known he wouldn’t let go. Now, he’s never going to leave her alone.”
“What direction? Where could possibly take it?”
“You mean come up with any excuse. He’s that kind.”
“Tell the waiter to bring the check. There he is.”
“She couldn’t have known.”
A dragon emerges. With a snarl like a dog’s, a mountain dog’s, the kind that brings men Cognac before they die. He wanted to tell her he’d hate to die that way, lost in the mountains, cold, bone cold, waiting for the dog to show with Cognac in a little neck barrel.
“Sell, sell, sell. That’s what I mean. We have leverage now.”
“The wind’s died down. The trees have stopped moving. It’s lovely.”
“A new direction for us.”
“I’m just scared for her.”
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