Midori Frowns

They were sitting at the bar ... It was happy hour, harpy hour ... Jack stood at the edge of the party ... listening to the blabber of sophisticates ... on and on they talked -- the stock market, fashion, politics, Italian shoes ... on and on... Jack took mental notes, mental pictures and didn't say a word ... on and on they blabbered, speaking in tongues ... he and she and he and he, and the couple from the Bureau ... drinking cosmopolitans ... waiting for their table ... singing for their supper ... Jack didn't say a word ...

Jack's invitation had come late ... minutes before at the accidental meeting of he and she and he ... she, Midori, had known Jack before ... in The City ... when Jack was famous and she was not ... had said hello as they passed in the alley ... made the mistake of asking how he was ... it was her companions who made the invitation ... Midori frowned ... Now there they were ... sitting at the bar ... blabbering.

Midori was there so he and he would look better to the Bureaucrat and his wife ... Jack was there without reason, though surely played a part ... standing at the edge of the party ... Jack frowned ... was ignored ... there were no questions ... no introduction to he and the couple from the Bureau ... Jack, the shadow took mental notes, mental pictures and didn't say a word ... waited as they spoke in tongues.

They were drinking cosmopolitans when the maitre d came to show them to their table ... he moved his hand across Midori's ass as she spun her chair to stand ... Midori frowned at the snuskig gubbe, thought of slapping him and said, "I am just nineteen." ... she had told Jack the same five years before.

As the party approached the table, blabbering still, Jack realized this was no place for him ... there were only six chairs ... for he and she and he and he, and the couple from the Bureau ... nothing for Jack ... seated at the table, the party paid no attention to Jack standing there, the shadow ... on and on they talked -- handbags, cinema, psychiatry, Italian shoes ...Jack frowned again, didn't say a word, took mental notes, mental pictures ... headed toward the exit ... toward the alley ... toward the harbor.

"What a serious man."