Chapter 57

The suroundaround we aimed for was full by the time we had finished with the zoo, so we did the African Queen instead, my Humphrey Bogart to her Katharine Hepburn. It was exhausting all that time up to my neck in muddy water pulling a steamboat on a rope. Red has a double shift at the MWD so I am now alone with my piano. Except for Brian that is. The ever present Brian. A necessary evil. Without him, there would be no clean socks. But he is such an irritant. Today when I came home he had turned off all the utilities. For maintenance he said. So I groped my way to the bathroom for a well earned shower and, yes you"ve guessed it, no water. I swear he does it to wind me up. He is probably miffed that Red was the girl of the day and not Veronica. Eventually he turned all back on and now I am ready for a quiet evening at home practicing my chords sequences. I tell Brian to admit no one, not Red, not Zeno, and especially not Doil, or Veronica for that matter. After about half an hour I give my fingers a break and do some press ups instead. A healthy body is a healthy mind. Whilst doing this mindless exercise, I suddenly have a thought that sits me up straight. "What if I visited 1935 as myself? Joe Coolz. I could be a new face in town. I can play most of the standard piano players of that era off the park. Only Errol Garner and Art Tatum have more technique than me, so getting a job would be easy meat. The other question is why would I want to do it? The answer: because I can. I can breeze into town and get a room somewhere, then hit the scene. I will need a back up story of course. Questions would be asked of a talented player like me. Where you from? Who taught you? That kind of thing. Hell I"m a good liar, I can wing it. I"ll think of something. The best lie is always the one that pops out of nowhere and becomes live.