Reunion (The Monkees Family Vol. 3)

Chapter 56

Wendy met Dave at the pub for lunch.  He was already waiting for her with a pint of ale sitting in front of him, a few missing sips having lowered the tide in his glass.  He stood when she approached the table and pulled her chair out for her.  He called to the barmaid by name and asked for the drink Wendy requested.

"So, you seem to be very much at home here, Dave," Wendy observed.

"Oh yeh, they all know me 'ere.  You've got to 'ave a local wherevah you go.  Absolutely essential."

Wendy raised her eyebrow.  "So you drink wherever you go?  Day or night?"

Dave wheezed with laughter.  "Sure, dahrling!  'ow else can you get through the day without a little joy and tenderness?"  He lifted his mug, reached for a pretzel from the basket on the table and quoted: "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness — Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! But then, I never said thy heaven was mine. Give me a flagon of red wine, a book of verses, a loaf of bread, and a little idleness."

Wendy asked "Is that from one of your songs?"

He shook his head.  "No, dahrling, it's from The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam."

Wendy blushed.  "Wow, you'd think a college girl like me would know something like that.  But Gabby was the literature major, not me.  The only thing I cared about was music, music and more music.  I worked in music and record stores part-time during high school and college.  I'm lucky I graduated at all."

"So you didn't fancy 'igher education?  I didn't either.  I skipped it altogether.  Grew up in Birmingham, and I went to a posh secondary school where most of me classmates either went on to attend Oxford, Cambridge or joined the military.  Me father filled out an application for the Royal Air Force for me but I told 'im I just couldn't kill people.  I finally 'ad to tell 'im I wanted to be a musician like Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones – 'e was me 'ero.  So, until we formed our band then then started getting some gigs, I had to find work doing whatever 'ard graft labor I could get meself 'ired for.  At one point I was making solar panels with another of the lads from the band.  If things don't go well with this lunch, I could be working construction after this tour is over."

Wendy decided to ignore the last comment for now and focus on the get-to-know-you part of the conversation.  She wanted to keep him hungry and eager.  "My family was very white collar, professional and they probably expected me to get married or go into some boring profession like being a secretary or a school teacher, but all I wanted to do was work in the music business, which they see as kind of disreputable even if you're on the business end of it.  I didn't have another interest, other than cars and sports.  I was something of a disappointment to my folks."

Dave sat up straighter in his chair.  "Well now, you musta had a lot of fellas buzzing around you then!  You sound like a dream come true!"

Wendy blushed and cleared her throat.  "Ahem.  Actually, no.  I didn't get much attention at all from guys.  I was really shy and not real smooth.  Plus I wasn't much to look at.  My husband was the first guy who ever –   Well, that's neither here nor there.  Not much has changed for me now other than that I'm not shy anymore and I know how to handle myself."

Dave's eyes widened and intensified with a stare that made Wendy shift uncomfortably in her seat.  Yet it wasn't a malevolent stare, more a hungry, appreciative gaze.  She felt like she was being sized up by the big bad wolf, who was calculating whether she would fit in his roasting pan.  Finally he spoke.  "You sell yourself far short, dahrling.  I guess we all do.  We wait for someone else's gaze to reflect what we'd like to see of the best of ourselves.  Just like you finding me and the lads, telling us that we're worthy of your time and support.  So 'ow about it?  Should we talk turkey, as you Yanks say?"