Three of Cups

The City—NIGHT

After more than a few after work beers at the Belly of The Whale bar, the crew reluctantly spills out into the street only to find that Sailor Lou has parked the crew van in a 15 minute loading zone and the vehicle has been booted. And in any case, the Sailor has disappeared with the keys at some point and is still nowhere to be found.

Neither is Mary. Which is good.

Iris hugs against me for warmth in the cold street.

For the sake of having a designated driver, usually Mary, we had all piled into the crew van at the office and left our cars. Now we all figure a brisk walk back to the office in the night air will sober us all enough to drive ourselves home. Sailor Lou and Mary be damned.

Iris and I make pleasant small talk with her face buried in my chest. She asks if I am coming to their (hers and Mary’s) Halloween party next week and I say that I haven’t been invited. Iris seems concerned.

“But, everyone else is coming? The whole crew. Isn’t it a mistake? I am sure Mary meant to.”

“Everyone else was personally invited. So I think no misunderstanding. I am not invited.”

“No.” she insists.

I don’t want to sound too pitiful or sound like I am trying for a pity invitation from the girl against Mary’s wishes; I just want to sound like a nice guy, over-looked once again and not ruin the quiet moment. I search for words.

“So, I guess I got the hint.”

She smiles, shakes me.

“But, I want you to come!”

I smile and hug her silently: That is just what I wanted to hear. But unfortunately, we will soon be back at the office to return to separate cars to return to separate homes to drink piss beer and watch TV.

As we approach Downtown, we find Mary is helping Sailor Lou roll cars out of a parking garage. The cathedral next door is on fire and they are shuffling the cars out of the garage and into the street. Mary steering. Lou pushing. When we spot them we all yell, and the Sailor looks up, losing control on the exit ramp. And the car rolls out and crashes into a utility pole.

“Lou!” we yell again. The church is about to collapse. We run to them. Mary is dazed, head having hit the steering wheel. But she is clear of the structure, as the cathedral is crashing down on the parking garage. Presumably Lou is trapped inside dead or dying.

The police and fire trucks have now arrived and are soon ushered further down the street in an evacuation.

My heart hurts thinking that Sailor Lou is dead. Mary says everything happened at once she is unsure what happened but remembers how Lou ran into the burning church to look for trapped people when they had spotted the smoke. 

The church was empty but Lou was sure it would fall atop the garage and decide to save some cars at least.

If he is dead it sure sounds like perhaps he died a hero.