Weekend du Vin

T'was a weekend to remember, Ms J. Or one best forgotten, depending on your point of view.

Andra called on Saturday morning.

"What are you up to, Dale?" she asked. "Can I come over for a visit?"

So my friend came over and we had lunch together. After lunch, another friend, Christine, dropped by. The two women sat and discussed men and relationships while I sat quietly and listened, hoping to learn more about the heart and mind of a woman. I served cheese and crackers and a delightful Australian Shiraz. Christine left us around 3:00.

"Will you stay for dinner, Andie?" I asked. "I'm going to barbecue some chicken."

She stayed and we ate. I opened a second bottle of wine. We talked into the evening and I opened another bottle of wine. We began to discuss music. Andie and I have similar tastes in music.

"Let's go upstairs and download some songs," she suggested.

I knew there was no metaphorical or hidden meaning in her words, Ms Journal. As I've said before, she and I are friends. We remain friends because we don't have a physical (ie. sexual) relationship. But still, I was drunk enough to hope. Andra's quite attractive, I think. Even more so after the third bottle was empty.

"More wine, Andie?" I asked as we waited to hear another John Prine song.

"Yeah, shurrr. That'd be jus' great! You stay there," said a very inebriated Andra and she went down to the cellar to fetch another bottle.

We sat here together at the computer and downloaded music and played it loud. Loudly. Whatever. We sang and we danced. Well, she danced. I wiggled in my chair. It felt like dancing. Did we have fun, Ms J? You bet Shiraz we did! We had an absolutely BRILLIANT time!

And we drank an obscene amount of Aussie red.

"Do you want to come to church with me in the morning?" I asked.

It was just after 3:30 am. but I was sincere. Sincerely shit-faced.

"No," said Andie and she put her empty glass down. "I'm going to bed. I can't drink any more. I just need to lay down."

I put her in Dan's old bed and limped down the hall to my room. The clock glowed a sleepy, red 3:38 when I climbed into bed. I think I was sound asleep before 3:40.

I didn't see Andie on Sunday morning. I got up at 9:00 for church (Oh yeah.I went.) but I guess she'd already left for home.

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Cyril MacPherson spoke to me outside after church.

"I'm doing a song for Rev. Linda here in a couple of weeks. Do you want to sing with me?"

Shit, Ms J. I'm an actor, not a singer. If you heard me sing, you'd know I'm not a singer. Cy sings pretty well, though. And he's a really good guitarist.

"I don't know, Cy," I told him. "I'm not much of a singer, I don't think. You want me to join you in a duet in front of the whole congregation?"

Cy said yes, that's precisely what he wanted.

"Why don't you come over to our place this afternoon? We can rehearse it a few times. It's a cool song, Dale. Real bluesy. It's called 'God and Man'. You'd like it. And you get to sing God's part."

"I get to play God, Cy?"

"Yup," he smiled.

"I'm in," I said and offered my hand.

So he drove round to my place after lunch and picked me up and took me to his house. He and Karen only live about three or four blocks from me. We listened to the song a few times on the stereo. Then Cy played it on his guitar and we sang it together.
After a few tries, we began to sound alright.

Cy found a 1.5 litre bottle of Niagara Merlot, and after a few glasses, we sounded even better. At 8:00, the bottle was empty and we were both drunk. Cy played and we sang folk songs by Gordon Lightfoot and Murray MacLaughlin and there was more John Prine. The drunker we got, the better we sounded. Til at the end, Ms J, we sounded AWESOME!!!

Karen had taken the car to go to work so Cy wobbled walked home with me. I'd been without my cast all day and my foot was (or soon would be) quite tender.

I spent most of the day today recuperating from two consecutive wine binges, and icing my swollen foot. Yes, my foot and leg are tender today, Ms J. But I had a great weekend. I haven't drunk that much in years!

Now how come I still feel thirsty? More water, please.

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