It's been a while. Jasmine says, "I want to see you! Let's go to the Shaft."So we do, and she drinks raspberry vodka lemonade with a splash of lime in a tall glass. I drink Jack and Coke.Jasmine and I inhabit a tiny universe together: we are the two old maids of our high school group. But we are only 27! Yes, but several of our childhood friends are devout or semi-devout Christians. We used to take bets on who would get married first; it became a moot point by the time we all reached 25. Now the married ladies are all off putting their husbands through seminary training in NYC, or leading educational tours through the wilds of Costa Rica, or doing missionary work in Uganda, sending the occasional email: "we all got malaria and the flu and scarlet fever at the same time" --and Jasmine and I sit at the Shaft, and wonder where we went wrong. Was it our codependent mothers and their mood elevators? Our fathers
in absentia? We decide that we both have emotional issues that cause us to choose the Wrong Guys and the Wrong Jobs."He always wants me to give him a backrub and I never get one back.""You know, my dad never apologized for anything, and neither did his wife.""My mother has supported her last two boyfriends, even though they make more than she does.""I am having dreams about Burning Man and I can't afford to go because he fucked me over so bad, I guess that's just part of growing up."Oh yes, growing up. We have lots to say on that topic. We are both growing cheekbones; we have both lost our split ends and our belly-dance-pants. Neither of us sings any more.
Every time the conversation dead-ends on a sad topic, we toast each other. Eventually we have no drinks left, so we nudge the empty glasses with our knuckles.And then Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" comes on the radio, and down the length of the bar, all of the five bar residents break into song at the same moment. Nobody sings the sappy lyrics, just the "doo doo doo..."When I get home,
my future ex-husband calls to tell me that he is taking me to Burning Man, whether I like it or not.
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