2003-10-24
Peter Pan and Wendy
I met Gregory in Halifax last Monday when Moira and I were looking for a bar where we could have a couple of gin and tonics.
He was waiting for some friends on the street, so Moira invited him to join us. They were friends already. The first thing I noticed about him was that he spoke to both of us, not just Moira with the occasional sidelong glance towards me.
Halfway through the first round and a long spell before the artichoke dip arrived, I whispered to Moira, �he�s not afraid of me.�
She whispered back, �Greg�s not afraid of anyone.�
Most of her male friends, you see, couldn�t even make eye contact with me. Moira had built me up so much through her stories about �Sheila from Tennessee� that they were all a bit daunted by my presence. A few cowered when I was reluctant to engage them in conversation and a few more were speechless after I told them a particular anecdote about a friend of mine (I was forced into it, albeit gleefully, like a performing monkey).
Greg left after finishing his beer, throwing down a ten spot (pennies in America, but enough for a second round for us two girls in Canada). I asked Moira why she wasn�t dating him because he was the first one she had introduced me to that made any sense.
Her eyes widened. �You like him.�
�Of course,� I said, �but it�s a non-issue. I�m leaving in a day and a half. You should go out with him.�
The little yenta called him the next afternoon and invited him out for dinner with a small group she was organizing.
I inadvertently sat next to him at the restaurant (he had marked his territory---the chair---with his jacket). Afterwards, the lot of us, plus a few extras and minus Moira�s mother (I had brought her along with me as a surprise---a nice one, I swear---to Halifax), met up for drinks. Greg and I continued our earlier conversation (human motivation and behavior mixed with patriotic quips about the other�s country) and parted as I walked Moira and one of her housemates home.
As soon as we got home, I called him. I told him I wasn�t through talking to him. He said he�d come over.
We talked and kissed all night, starting on the front porch and ending up on the couch and eventually, the rug.
Gregory wasn�t afraid of me.
betholindo at 6:20 p.m.