Cool Like That

"Now you need a million dollars!" my favorite beer man commented as I bought a 12 pack and a Mega Millions ticket to rein in the beginning of my week long fall break.
"You get two days off A WEEK!  And you are always on vacation!"
"Yeah, I get benefits, too.  And a pension".
"Yes!"
"Don't worry, I'll settle for fifty thousand, doesn't have to be a million" I added, picking up my 12 pack AND my lottery ticket.
"I take you to India when you win.  But be sure to save me some of those beers.  I will be by later".
"It's on.  Don't worry, I've got your back".

I stood in the new snake house at the zoo, staring at the Black Mamba.  I hate snakes, but always go to look at them at zoos where they are safely enclosed behind glass.  Or I hope they are enclosed....whenever I see an empty habitat half of me wonders if the thing just escaped and is slithering around me on the floor.

I've broken up with my family, well at least everyone except my mom.  Or maybe they broke up with me.  I am sure it is the kind of thing that could be argued, like most break ups.  Sometimes it is a relief.  Sometimes I think of the years of traveling together and dinners together and wonder how everything has come to this.  I have a terrible feeling that things have gone beyond fixable.

Alec and I celebrated nineteen years together on the thirteenth.  People find our relationship unconventional because we are not married and we do not own nice furniture.  We have never shown an interest in kids, which I think adds to some belief that we have circumvented adulthood.  Fine by me.  I actually think you cannot get more conservative -  a nineteen year relationship that started when I was twenty-four.  What do people want, high school sweethearts?  I bet Alec was pretty hot in high school.

The weather has started to turn remotely fall like, the sky looking like it did on September 11th, 2001.  It was if Al Queda waited until one of the prettiest early fall days to do their business.   It is my favorite season.  On a whim I set a tent up in the backyard, thinking it would be fun for Lola and I to sleep outside in the cool weather.  I was surprised when Alec wanted to join us.  The three of us climbed in and zipped the door shut, laying outside in the middle of the city.  Just a block away, I imagined the lions and tigers of the zoo sleeping under the same sky.