11,978. THE WHOLE NINE YARDS

THE WHOLE NINE YARDS

I was having a beer, by myself,

in a place called The Whole

Nine Yards. Some pretty girl

walked over to me and asked

who I was, hadn't she seen me

before? She named a name of

some band I'd never heard of;

a Grateful Dead cover band,

she said, that travels all around

always. She named some guy

I was the spitting image of.

'Hmmm,' I said, I don't spit

much. You must have good

eyes.' She thought that was

hilarious, and really had a

laugh. I told her I once knew

a band called 'World Within'

that did the very same thing.

Dead cover band, traveled all

around. She'd not heard of them.

So I said, 'Well then, what good

are we, each to the other? Here,

let me buy you a drink.' She

said Ok, and sat down,

-

It was fun. Her father had 

owned a Caddy dealership out 

Long Island way. She'd lived 

pretty well, as a'kid, but said 

it was boring as hell and, as

soon as she could, she left 

home. I kind of wondered

what she meant, and said,

'How old were you when you
 left?' She said 'Nineteen.'

That didn't seem so bad, 

for leaving home. I said I'd 

thrown my kid out when 

he was twenty-four. But it 

wasn't far, just maybe five

miles away. She said, 'You

threw him out?' I said, 'No,

I didn't mean it that way; I

found him another place to 

live. We set him up somewhere 

else, with his girlfriend. It

was too crowded in that

little house, and I got tired 

of hearing all that stuff.'

-

She laughed at that too.

And then we were done.

There wasn't much else to 

do. I was old enough to

be her father.