One of Vienna’s many fine Irish pubs, to be precise, where we drank a couple pints, smoked too much and I ranted about Bush and oil. I mean, I asked them what they thought about Bush, and they were all polite and diplomatic, “Well, I’m not too enthusiastic about his policies…” to which I could only say, “You mean his policy of environmental devastation, his policy of distracting the public from corporate corruption, his policy of trampling civil rights or his policy of undermining democracy and widening the plutocracy? I was even forced to do my “War against Terrorism? Is that going to be another great success like the War against North Korea, the War against Vietnam, the War against Poverty, and the War against Drugs?” schtick.
Anyway. We drove the Colombian home because it was raining. She happened to be a young woman, smart and attractive. My other friend was giving me directions because I’m not a great driver under the best of conditions, and here we were, in a city unfamiliar to me (as a driver) at night in the rain. So anyway, she lost her earring in my car.
“That’s okay, no big deal,” she said.
I turned on the dome light. “Dude, you’re finding your earring before I have to explain it to Alpha, man.” She looked around on the floor as we drove.
[Cut to this morning in front of Gamma's day-care place]
Gamma: [climbing out of the car wearing large pointy witch hat] Oooh! Pretty earring. [Picks earring up off floor]
Beta: Uh, dad? I thought you were going out with a guy last night.
Miguel: Here, I’ll take that, thanks man.
