Sick & Tired

Day two

We have slept for nearly 12 hours. Since the Pirate got his cold first, he feels a little better. I feel a lot worse. We have coffee and breakfast on the porch, and just as I have sprawled my naked Mermaid self out on the very private deck to try and cook this cold out, Lach arrives. I hop up and dress, and maintain some dignity before I'm discovered. Lach has his friend Bob with him, they are going golfing. The last time I saw Bob, a 64 year young handsome Italian guy from New York, he and his dazzling wife Joy were lip synching Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw in my living room. That is another story.

With Lach and Bob is Libby, the cutest, spunkiest Boston terrior who, before greeting us, runs around the yard at light speed like a teeny tiny horse. We are in love with Libby. The fellas tell us that Joy and Traci are not expected to arrive for several more hours. So, once they have gone for their golfing, we fire up the sauna and proceed to spend the hottest day of the summer so far making ourselves even hotter. Our theory is that if we induce a feverish sweat all day, we will not be sick as long. We'll see.

Around dinner hour Traci and Joy arrive. A note on Traci: I have spent more vacation time with this woman than any other friend. We met on a houseboat trip to the NC Outer banks, since then we've been on several other trips all with the common denominator of the two of us sipping something nice, laying around, reading magazines with painted toes and stylie sunglasses. She is my female equal in indulgent relaxation. Incidentally, she is also fantastically beautiful and cool.

We hitch a ride with them to Floyd, to the Dogtown pizza place, where Lach and Bob await. Floyd is interesting; a cocktail of equal parts down-to-earth, bluegrass and tie dyed hippie. I, unfortunatley, am “peaking” in the discomfort of my cold, so I cannot hear, taste or breathe, really. I will have to meet Floyd under better circumstances one day.

On our way home, Traci, Joy, the Pirate and I find ourselves in the black-and-white segment of The Wizard of Oz. You know, the tornado part. From out of nowhere we are driving through whipping winds, falling limbs and swarms of fallen leaves under a scary black sky. After just a few minutes, Joy very calmly and politely says “I'd like to go back”, and so that's what we do. In the twenty minutes or so that it takes to drive back and find Lach and Bob a serious storm has blown through. It never rained, but it blew. On the way home, we weave around fallen branches and trees, thankful that we were not beneath any of them when they fell.

But, when we arrive back to the house, Libby has gone missing. There is a friendly note on the door letting us know a number to call to get her back. Poor little thing, now we're even more in love with her.

Before Lach comes home with her, before the after dinner wine is poured and comfortable clothes are put on, I am asleep; once again under a benedryl haze, and grateful for it too.