Autumn in Kensington

I Think We're Alone Now

It was getting late. Roger and I had gotten over Manchester's miserable loss. "Hey, you all had your show so where the hell is your stuff?" I asked John.

 "It's sitting in the van behind the bar." He told me. "Veronica and I are taking the van home."

 "It was a little discouraging tonight. The bar wasn't as full as we had hoped." He shared.

 "What you need is a little publicity. Some flyers or something. I could help get the word around. In fact, I know some people in the printing department of the art floor at the university. If we could get a picture of the four of you, I could have the  flyers made. Me and Veronica an' Chrissie could hang them up and pass them out before the next show." I thought I had come up with a great idea.

 "Hmm...that's a really good idea. How much would it cost?" He wondered. I shrugged my shoulders and put my jacket on. We were back at our table at this point.

 "Wouldn't cost anythin'. The printing people on the art floor are dyin' to get new projects. I can get a photography student to do the shot for the flyer." I said.

 "That's...that sounds great, Lydia. Thank you. Roger, are you hearin' this?" John tapped him on the arm.

 "Yeah! Yeah, somethin' about a flyer?" He said. John sighed and re-explained everything that was just discussed.

 "You serious, Lyd!? You could arrange that?" He had just put his jacket on once again. I smiled. He and I were gettin’ ready to leave.

 "Yes...yes, Rog. I could arrange that. Tell ya’ what. Tomorrow, I’ll make some calls. I could probably get things set up for Monday. The floor is shut down on the weekends.” I was tellin’ John but I knew Roger was listenin’ as well. I put my hands on Chrissie’s shoulders. I knew John and Veronica were close to leavin’ as well.

 “We’re leavin’…you’re on ya’ own.” I whispered to her. Chrissie spun around to face me.

 “I’ll call you tomorrow.” She said.

 “I liked meeting you, Chrissie.” Roger told her. “Bye, Bri…we’re takin’ off.” He said to Brian before I took his hand.

 “Veronica, John! Bye! We’re leavin’.” I pointed to her.

 “Hey! Bye…we’re on our way out as well. Call us. We’ll be around.” She said. Roger and I headed out of the pub, giving everyone else a final wave.

 “Oh, it’s really cool tonight.” Roger noticed as we got outside to the sidewalk.

 “It is. I guess summer is really gone. You wanna’ take the bus or a cab?”

 “We’ll take the bus, the stop is closer anyway. Roger leaned over and kissed me as we headed to the nearby bus stop. We were goin’ to my place tonight. We already had plans of layin’ in bed with a joint and Jimi Hendrix. Since we were gonna’ light up, We were also gonna’ open my bedroom window and light the candles I had that worked wonderfully to neutralize the smell of grass. It was gonna’ be one hell of a night.

 “Are you two stayin’ here? You can come to our house if you want to. We can play cards.” Veronica said. She and John had a townhouse on the north side of Kensington. Brian looked at Chrissie.

 “You…wanna’ go for a walk?” he reluctantly asked her. Veronica smiled all over at Brian’s question.

 “Yeah…yeah, I’d love to.” Chrissie’s face lit up.

“Thanks for the invitation, Veronica.” Brian said.

 “Oh of course, invitation’s always there.” Veronica said. “We’re goin’ to take off then.” Veronica and John stood up from the table. Freddie had left shortly after Roger and Lydia left. He had bid Chrissie a fond farewell and had hoped to see her again. Now, here they were…Brian and Chrissie…sitting there at the table by themselves.