I wasn’t really worried about getting to Justin’s on time, since I figured James would be late anyway, but I turned out to be the last one there, and Justin had already called to find out where I was before I got there, even though I was only about 20 minutes late.
Brunch was lovely, as I knew it would be. Eggs, grits, bacon, fruit, doughnuts, brownies, biscuits with homemade blackberry jam, coffee, tea, and several kinds of juice; it was quite a spread. After we ate our fill, we adjourned to the stoop for a smoke. About that time the upstairs neighbor let his kids out to play, and we were surrounded by children until we left the apartment. They stayed with us when we were outside, and talked to us through the windows of Justin’s apartment when we were inside. It was quite annoying. Interestingly, they seem to be fascinated by James. Despite his continued indifference and indeed casual disdain, he is a god to them.
With James and Jeff going to paint their apartment (still – this seems to be a perpetual task), and under siege by young’uns, Amanda, Justin, and I decided to go antiquing. That’s all well and good; I love running around with them. The problem was that Amanda’s truck was loaned out today, and she was in her dad’s spare car, a 1972 Chevelle, which is apparently his pride, joy, and reason for continued existence. She was not allowed to leave the car unattended, so we had to take it if we wanted to go shopping. I was led to believe that the value of this vehicle is apparently such that even as I write a compendium of international car thieves are conspiring to get their larcenous hands on this unparalleled treasure, this means of conveyance that Helios himself must surely covet. The virtues and treasures of said automobile had been extolled upon to the point that I was half expecting trumpets to sound when the doors opened. I was in for a bit of a disappointment. It’s just an old car. It has a big engine. But it doesn’t have a dash, a CD player, an intact head-liner, or (most importantly in South Carolina in July) air-conditioning. I was also informed that the lights didn’t work, so Amanda had to be home before dark; and that we were to hope it didn’t rain because we weren’t quite sure of the capabilities of the windshield wipers, and because the roof apparently leaks.
A 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle. This is not The Car, but it looks pretty much like the one we were in unless you are Amanda or her dad.
I was game. It was OK. But we did every antique store that was open within a 45 mile radius of Justin’s apartment. By the end of the day I was pretty tired of not being able to sit up straight, and the day had turned off hot (although still relatively mild for this time of year here). But it was a fun day, and I love hanging out with Justin and Amanda. We saw a lot of glass. Amanda is into flatware, and we saw a lot of that too. But the prices weren’t right, we were broke, and we all have quite enough crap already. None of us bought anything. We did stop off for lunch at a Mexican place where Justin and I had been before, which was nice. Amanda made the restaurant open a closed section so that we could be seated within sight of The Car in the parking lot. Thankfully, the thieves following us either lost us in the wilds of Inman, or decided we were too vigilant to attempt a theft during lunch. Eventually, though, we made it back, and Amanda headed home before the sun went down.
Justin and I ended up down at Jeff and James’s house. I hung out, talked, and smoked with them until around nine. When it got time for the TV to come on, I headed home. I needed to go home anyway, and I knew if I started watching with them I’d be there too late. Hell, I’d already blown the whole day playing anyway. Tomorrow is a work day.
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