the coastergirl diaries volume two

the next day i got there before her and saw her pull up. she drives a little ford focus. black. tiny and crazy. it suits her as much as any car i've seen suits a person. i watched her as she pulled in. i watched her as she waited for whatever song she was listening to to end before she turned off the car, and i watched her as she got out of the car (tantalizing and amazing). she was dressed in a soft tan skirt that went to her ankles with a gypsie scarf wrapped around her head and these large hoop earrings that drive me insane to this day. and a black shirt button up.

what hit me most was that she was late getting to work. fifteen or twenty minutes as i recall and yet she still waited for the song to end. i was beginning to reconsider her offer.

me: what were you listening to?
her: killer cars mogodon version. (god, i love this woman.)

she tossed her bag down in the bag and clocked in. i noticed her bag had a cap'n jazz patch saftey-pinned on it. it was a little shit green army satchel full of all the crap women feel the need to carry everywhere they go. no makeup though. she only wore a bit and she didn't even need that if you ask me.
she made herself a cup of tea (jasmine jazz mixed with rose petal. i had never seen anyone mix breed teas before) and put a bit of milk in it and some honey. british style. my wholly unfair god, can anyone be this perfect?
then, pete came in (a regular) she had his coffee ready before he got to the counter and he smiled chatted for a minute or two and went to sit down.
one thing about pete is he was most likely seventy or so and drastically in love with her. at least that's my theory. he was always flirting. he is also one of the kindest men i have ever known. he is retired and runs the games for little kids at the ballpark now.
the day was uneventful other than some psycho babble about music and her telling me about a book she was reading (the art of happiness by the dalia lama).

her: i am going to be a chemical dependency counselor.
me: how come?
her: i had a lot of drug problems in the past and we need more counselors who know what they're talking about.

she didn't tell me at the time the things i came to know so well later. her eating disorders, her diet pill problem, her mental breakdowns, but i wouldn't have been surprised. a person as drastic and amazing as that is always frought with difficulties. it is what makes them amazing. living through all of that and spiraling around it, into it, out of it, throughout the course of a life lived in lust of life. and she was that. she was most certainly that.

2002-09-22 | 12:35 a.m.
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