K & Me

I meet K in the lobby of Boston Common Loews
or is it AMC as the later screen display envisions?
She has bought another pair of black boots,
& hustles over from Downtown Crossing while I
buy tix & wait.
I took the Red Line in from Braintree,
trying desparately to get page count on Faulkner book.
I read all of (3) pages on the ride into town.

The line is full of old men & misbegottens--
pickled faces dying of cancers & age acne.
Although the theatre is literally next to Emerson College,
the net sweeps the Commons & Chinatown...
I remember going to a matinee here & a homeless man
slept on in the front row,
never even wakening once the movie was over.
There are a smattering of college age kids
but most are probably already en route home for the holidays.

K shows & we ascend to the top floor.
There are concession stands every 100 feet it seems,
even in the "wing" our movie is on.
Blueberry Hawaiian Punch & $2.00 bottled waters,
curly fries & poured cheeses.
A calorie counter for the obese & listless watchers.
No Taco Bell or KFC tie-ins, though.

The movie is horrible.
"Southland Tales" proves a big, sprawling mess
right from the initial 10 mins of vid game prologue
& set-up.
There are some unexpected performances ie. Jon Lovitz
but there is no character to root for, to understand.
The Rock is miscast & given nothing to do but literally
twiddle his thumbs.
Oh well. That's 2 for 2-- the last stinker K & I saw
was "The Black Dahlia".
I won't read too much into our movie picks.

K is fortunate. Although she parked @ a 2 hour meter
& although she is almost another 2 hours late getting back,
there is no parking ticket.
It must be too cold for even the meter maids.
I am woefully underdressed &
the wind chill blasts my chest.
I am reminded of the unnatural wind tunnels of downtown
Chicago...
the slamming, fierce cold.

We go to a Quincy Mex place--
& I watch my weight.
Only grilled salmon ala Ensalada de Pescado.
K compliments me on the sideburns a couple times,
even though the left-side one refuses to grow through.
She gets a call from John mid-meal & answers cautiously,
& in the midst of the talk a timetable is set.
We have 45 mins to wrap it up.
"Does John know we were meeting?" I ask.
"Well, I thought I'd be going into work at first..."
and there it is.
Pretense. She rapidly changes topics until we're discussing
the restaurant's heating.
Then we're done & everything's still on even-keel,
no changes to the status quo.
And she drops me off @ the T.

This is my social life. Over by mid-afternoon
on a Saturday.
Today I work in Worcester to kill the time.
Not looking forward to the long Thanksgiving.