Chapter 44

Wendy came into her empty house and wished she could talk to someone about Brad, but there wasn’t anyone. She couldn’t even mention it to Cindy, although she could talk to her about Scott. She lit a joint and called.

“Hey, Cindy. Hope it isn’t too late?”

“Nope, glad you called. I wanted to ask you why you didn’t want a deeper discussion about Scott at lunch.”

“Wow, that’s actually why I called. I didn’t want to talk when he came up because I was still thinking through a conversation I had with him. If it’s okay, can we talk about him now?”

“For sure.” “I wanted to tell you he seems to have changed in a very good way, but I’m still leery about starting anything with him.”

“I think you need to go slow in order to know if he is for real, maybe start with another lunch.”

“I know I have to do something, but how do I go on dates without his thinking I want him back right away?”

“That’s like, hard, maybe meet him somewhere casual once in a while for a soda or coffee and skip lunch at first.”

“Yeah, it could work, but what reason do I give for the invitation?”

“Hmm…you need to think on that one.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot.”

“Glad to help. Stay cool, goodnight.”

They hung up.

Cindy was right, Wendy thought as she went to her bedroom. She needed to go out with him.

At the beginning of August, she flipped on the TV to hear the news. Nixon announced his resignation effective the next day…beats impeachment. August 1974 was about to be a hotter one for more than just the weather. She relaxed in her living room chair smoking a joint.

After a quick breakfast the next morning Wendy left for work. She mulled over talking to Carol about her Scott situation, although they rarely talked personal life, but she knew Carol would listen and be honest.

Carol was busy with a customer when Wendy arrived, so she moved around the nursery trimming here and there. Her mind focused on Scott. She simply couldn’t come up with any plan to engage him. She decided not to talk to Carol.

The next day the nursery was slow, so Wendy left at one to run some errands. She picked up the magazine, Get Down. The articles dealt with popular drugs. She took the magazine to a coffee shop and read through it while she ate lunch. The drugs discussed were LSD, cocaine, pcp, peyote, and weed. She concentrated on the information about peyote. She liked the description of peoples’ highs when they were on it. Some talked about the silliness they experienced along with immense euphoria and fun hallucinations. A few commented negatively about the way they got hooked on it and a few disliked the hallucinations when they were ugly. Wendy’s intention was not to get hooked on anything. Once in a while she just wanted to experience the euphoria she heard about, a chance to escape from her mind about both Brad and Scott and her loss of Elliott. She wanted a separate world where she could be somewhere else.