Mitchell's / Logan's Pub / Chief's Cafe / The Luna / Pather Hollow Inn / Union Grille / Peter's Pub / Joe Mama's / Fuel & Fuddle / Mad Mex / Primanti Brothers / Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland Pittsburgh / Hemingway's Cafe / Upstage
The warm summer night waited outside. Inside, these two sat in the air conditioned low lighting near the dance floor. She attended the University of Pittsburgh, and now sat looking down at her hands holding the tall glass of crushed ice and mixed fruit juice on the table top. Several couples were dancing.
She said, "I've never had a stranger ask me to come home with him."
He said, "I've seen you around."
"I've seen you around, too."
"We have one thing in common."
She looked up. He nodded at their drinks. She said, "I hate the taste of alcohol."
"I don't, but that's another story. How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"No boyfriend?"
"We broke up." She took a swallow of her drink, watching him over the glass.
Six steps lead up to the dance floor. Colored lights flashed under the dancers' feet. A DJ played the music.
She said, "Anymore questions?"
"Ask me some."
"Are you married?"
"No."
"Children?"
"I'm thirty-three but no children. At least none that I know of."
"Everyone here seems to know you. Is that what you do? Come here to pick up college girls?"
"I don't do one night stands anymore."
"Oh," she said. "You're looking for something steady."
"Sure," he said. "Aren't you?"
"Well," she said, "I don't know you and I'm definitely not in love with you."
"Have you ever been in love?"
"Once," she said.
"And?"
"He couldn't pass up any freebies."
"How old was he?"
"At the time, twenty-one. We were both juniors."
"Well, you can't expect--"
"Why not? Why is it so difficult for you men to keep your cocks in your pants?"
He took a drink, putting the glass back down gently.
She said, "I like you a lot less." She got up, picked up her drink and walked away. She walked in between the empty tables, down the two steps, across the aisle and sat on a stool at the bar.
He got up with his drink, went up the six stairs, through the dancers, down the six stairs to sit at the bar on the other side. Some people he knew came in. He sat with them at the tables. By midnight it was crowded. He danced. By last call he was ready to go home.
Outside, the avenue was full of university students, walking and driving. His car was in the shop and he didn't have the money to get it out; but he started a new job Monday and was sure he could keep this one. He had a two year plan to get back on his feet. He was at the corner when someone called, "Wait up!" He turned and she came running up to him. She didn't look straight at him. She tried to catch her breath.
She said, "If I agree to stay with you tonight do we have to do anything?"
He thought a moment and then he said, "I wouldn't get any sleep."
"Does it have to be all your way? Don't I get any of what I want?"
"What do you want?"
"To be with someone. To know someone's there. Just to have someone--" She looked away and wiped at her eyes.
Students kept walking past. Cars made the avenue a slowly flowing river of lights.
He said, "What's your name?"
"Janette. Janette Mitchell."
A little later that night, he was in his briefs on his back on the bed in the dark. She was on her stomach in her bra and panties and in his arms with her head resting on his chest, an arm over his midsection, a leg draped over his legs. They both ignored the bulge in his briefs.
She said, "Did you actually kill anyone?"
"In artillery you don't want to be close enough for them to see you."
"Women and children, too?"
"Sometimes we wasted villages."
"How old were you?"
"Nineteen."
"Do you think about it?"
"Sometimes I dream about it."
"I could never kill anyone."
"You'd be surprised."
"I could never."
"You'd let them kill you?"
No answer.
He stared at the faint shadows playing on the dark ceiling. It was Sunday morning. A comforting breeze blew through the window screen.
"Did you have a girlfriend over there?"
"We didn't call them girlfriends."
She stayed motionless against him. The heat of her body was making him uncomfortable.
He said, "When I got back home I broke up with my fiancee."
She raised her head. "Why?"
"She wanted to live in her nice safe world with all her nice safe possessions."
"So?"
He didn't answer.
She said, "Didn't you love her?"
"Oh, I loved her. I just couldn't live with her."
After a moment, she lowered her head back down on his chest. They stayed motionless. He closed his eyes. He caught himself falling. He stared at the faint shadows playing on the dark ceiling.
She eased out of his arms, stood beside the bed and began removing her undergarments. "Hush," she said.
you're teaching me and i thank you for it/do you really need 'different' before colored lights?/you got a sentence with 3 prep phrases & it's funny cause each way sounds funny: like, on the bed on his back in his briefs--sounds like the bed's on his back: to me the best is on his back on the bed in his briefs but funny too cause the bed's now in his briefs/you might re-phrase it but it's no big deal/i was a Hemingway fan for a few years and really absorbed him/you do a great job with these Hemingwayish short sentences/ really good read/glad i found you keep going and cheers
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