Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen - Dyan Sheldon [65]
Before I could stop him, Stu was on his feet and pushing past the waitress. “I have to go to the john,” he announced loudly. “I expect that to be a boilermaker by the time I get back.”
THINGS TAKE A TURN FOR THE WORSE
While Stu was away, Ella and I congratulated ourselves on how well everything was working out.
“Can you believe it, El?” I could barely control my excitement. “You and I are having coffee with Stu Wolff!” I’d never let Carla Santini live this down.
A frown crossed Ella’s face. “I wish he were sober, though. It’s so hard talking to someone who’s drunk.”
As if she’d had a lot of experience talking to drunks. Ella had less than I did, and the only time I’ve seen either of my parents really wasted was the Christmas my father hit the eggnog too hard and danced into the tree. It was quite a sight. But my father hadn’t behaved like Stu. My father had been happy. He was still laughing as he took broken bits of Christmas ball from his hair.
“I wish he were, too,” I admitted. “I have so many questions I want to ask him about his work.”
Ella tentatively sipped her coffee. “I wonder why he is so unhappy,” she mused. “You’d think he’d be the happiest guy in the world.”
I’d tried to explain to Ella that artists aren’t like ordinary people, but she clearly hadn’t understood. Not that I blamed her. Mr and Mrs Gerard think suffering is when their lawn gets crabgrass or the deli runs out of Brie.
“You just don’t understand the artistic soul,” I said. But, fortunately, I did. And I knew Stu’s soul almost as well as I knew my own. There wasn’t a line he’d written that wasn’t burned into my memory and etched in my heart. “The artistic soul can never be happy. It creates through anguish and pain. That’s probably why he drank so much.” My face clouded with empathy. “He has to numb the intensity of his feelings. All true geniuses do.”
Ella, of course, was radically impressed by my explanation. She looked over her shoulder towards the restrooms.
“You know,” she said, “he’s been in there a while. I hope he’s all right.”
The counter-man, the waitress, and the cops were all looking towards the restrooms, too.
Ella turned back to me. “Do you think he’s passed out again?”
“At least we know that he’s safe if he has,” I answered, slightly distracted for the moment. I was watching the cops push their cups away. The one with powdered sugar on his chin got to his feet and strolled towards the door. I didn’t like the way he glanced over at me and Ella as he stepped into the street. It suddenly occurred to me that Ella’s concern about her mother’s protectiveness might be justified. What if Mrs Gerard had called my house to check on Ella after all? A person with far less imagination than I could easily picture what would have happened. The shrieking; the tears; the phone calls; the overwrought conversation with the police…”
As casually as a person who is dripping all over could, I glanced towards the street again. The patrol car was parked on a yellow line right out front… The police officer was sitting inside, talking on the radio. I wished I could read his lips. Was he saying, “That’s right, one has blonde hair and the other one’s a redhead…?”
My euphoria had vanished. It would be just my luck to end up not in Stu Wolff’s embrace but in the strong arms of the law.
The waitress materialized with Stu’s order and the coffee-pot. “Your friend’s takin’ a long time,” she said conversationally as she refilled our cups. “I think one of you better go check on him before the boss does.”
As one, Ella and I looked towards the boss. He was leaning between a plastic bottle of ketchup and a pitcher of milk, talking to the remaining cop, but his eyes kept darting to the restrooms.
“I’ll go,” I volunteered.
Nonchalant as an antelope, I walked to the back of the diner, praying that no one could hear me squelch. I slipped into the ladies’ – which was next to the men’s room – and locked the door.
“Stu!” I hissed urgently. “Stu! Are you OK?”
I pressed my ear to the wall. I couldn’t hear a sound.
My next move was