For Every Season, Be There A Song
For Every Season, Be There A Song
Gin, Squirt, Smoke, Quarters
November 15, 2020
Songs of Silence
Carvelli refuses to listen. The Christmas songs are blaring yet Carvelli is having, and hearing, none of it. It is the middle of November, she tells Epstein. Halloween is freshly dead and Thanksgiving is on deck. Christmas Carols cannot, will not, and shall not be played, sung, heard, or even contemplated, damn you, Epstein, damn you.
Epstein, who has been known as a libertine at least since the Obama years and perhaps longer, is not deterred. He drops another handful of quarters into the jukebox and it is on fire with songs of the upcoming season. Songs of Santa, snow, holly, cookies, snowmen, and sleigh bells. Epstein taps his tiny feet at the multifarious melodies that express a single idea: Christmas is coming.
Carvelli sips her Gin and Squirt and, after her third drink and Carvelli’s tireless tune playing, she begins to tap her feet and perhaps even bob her head slightly. The Gin and Squirts are helping her achieve some early stage of meliorism and Epstein’s wild hair makes her smile.
But damn it, Epstein she says again. Damn it, don’t the Pilgrims, the ghost of Pocahontas and the tofu Turducken deserve just a bit more? Can’t Christmas just frickin’ wait?
Epstein has a bottomless pocket of quarters and keeps feeding the musical beast which spits out more Christmas music, filling the basement like the three bird roast will fill Carvelli’s stomach in less than two week’s time.
Three Gin and Squirts later, Carvelli dozes off on the couch and Epstein is out of quarters. The music dies and the jukebox sleeps. He watches her sleep and opens up the basement door and lets the November air devour the plume from his Tareyton.
When Carvelli wakes up they will eat pizza. They will sober up. They will share a Tareyton and go for a drive. They will watch autumn retreat in the rearview mirror. Carvelli will reach for the radio and Epstein will maneuver the stick shift and let her turn the dial. He will be glad to surrender to her. To honor November. --TK
Monday, November 16, 2020