Turning to Travis, Ian asks, “Seriously, who’s this girl?”

“Ah. It’s really not a big deal. We met back in September and got along really well. We’d hang out and flirt and make-out and whatever. After a couple of weeks she told me that she was dating this guy, and that’s why she hadn’t done anything serious with me.”

“So?”

“Well, after she told me she had a boyfriend, we started doin’ stuff.”

Ian laughs. “You’re a bastard.”

“It isn’t all my fault. We just got really drunk one night… I mean, that’s no excuse…”

“So then what?”

“We did that for a couple of weeks, and it was fun. I kinda’ liked it that way—sneakin’ around. But she ended up tellin’ her boyfriend the whole thing.”

“Did he come after you?”

“Yeah. Actually, he did. I remember he was real pissed off when he found me at The Manhattan. I think I told him somethin’ like, ‘You can hit me, but it won’t do you any good. I’ll probably just fall over.’ He sorta’ lightened up and we had a drink and talked for a while.”

Kristin giggled. “You’re so weird—talking to the guy whose girlfriend you cheated with. You probably bought him a drink.”

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

After a while, Kristin and Eric, arrive, from where no one says and no one asks.

“Good luck,” Travis says to Kristin.

“What’s up?” Nick asks as Kristin and Eric make their way up the stairs, leaning on each other.

Travis turns from watching the pair to Nick. “You remember Sandy Bennett?”

Nick has to think about it for a moment, and then his eyes widen in remembrance. “The one with the boots?”

“The killer boots,” letting Nick see what he is thinking.

“Oh boy! Somebody’s gettin’ boots fer Kreesmas!”

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: Athens, Daphne Dearborn, Ian Fleming, John Riffing, Kristen Shelley, late-night, Nick Vaughn, party, Travis Fleeting

Men, at a young age, typically get very excited at the prospect of going out, getting drunk and getting laid. And why not? Nature gave them space, wine and women. It’s only human (or, male, at least) to want all of them at once. It’s an exciting prospect. Nature, on the other hand, typically gets very excited at the idea of denying young men these prospects. More often than not, young men awaken in their beds to discover that the only thing they have acquired after carousing is a nasty headache and a dent in the old self-esteem. But again, why not? They are young and it is only the most cunning, controlled individual, that when pressed, can fish for himself, these three species of aquatic creatures not found in the same bodies of water.

Those occasions when it happens are both rare and amazing. If you get most men in a room alone after managing such a feat, most would modestly tell you that they had no idea how it happened, and hence the term, “getting lucky.” Strangely enough, most young women would explain to you that it happened because they decided it would. So much for “getting lucky.”

Read the whole story so far: Incunabula

Characters and Places: drinking, Love, luck, sex

As Ian pulls into the Teke parking lot, Travis questions him, “You forget something?”

“No, dude. The party’s only two doors down.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. What’s-her-name at Mean Mike’s said it was next door to the radio station.” WUOG is next door to the Teke house. Travis and Ian both had occasion to yell requests out Ian’s window to the D.J. Most of the disc jockeys were cool about the noise. One had even run a mike to the window to interview Ian and Travis because he thought it was so funny.

“I got two guys here that wanna’ make a request real bad, but they’re not bright enough to use the phone,” the D.J. had said out across the airwaves. And Ian and Travis proceeded to yell something in unison—completely incomprehensible to anyone listening to the radio.

That same D.J. had found Travis playing at D.T.’s, and had asked him to do an interview on a local’s only show. Travis had agreed to do it—so long as he could do it from Ian’s window at the Teke house. The D.J. agreed, and several nights later hundreds of people tuned in to Travis yelling answers to serious questions ten yards away from the microphone, using a cardboard megaphone.

“So, tell me Travis, why did you decide to pick up the guitar?”

And then a muffled answer would be hollered out. Walking along Milledge, in front of the radio station, Travis thinks to himself that he should talk that D.J. into doing another show—this time in the same room. It would be good publicity, he thinks. But then, Travis laughs at the word ‘publicity’.

“What?” Ian asks as they stroll across the parking lots.

“It’s just funny—the idea of advertising myself. I can’t ever get over it.”

“I think it’s cool, dude. I wish you’d let me do something bigger than a flyer—a big glossy, poster or t-shirt or something. Flyers are cool and all, man…”

As the two walk up to the house on the other side of the radio station, they can hear the noise of the party in a low lovely rumble that trickles down an ironwork staircase on the outside of the house. “All right,” Travis agrees. “You got it. We’ll do something cool in the fall when the crowds get a little bigger.”

“I wanna’ photograph you on Mary Jane anyway—even if it’s just for posterity.”

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: Athens, DJ, Ian Fleming, night, Travis Fleeting, WUOG

“Yeah. This is definitely cool,” Ian says, nodding vigorously.

From the streets below them, Ian and Travis can be seen as shadowy figures lingering at the top of one of the downtown parking garages. They can see the whole stretch of College Avenue and most of Clayton Street. Standing there with Ian, Travis is fascinated with the migratory patterns of the evening’s thrill seekers. Where are they all coming from? Where are they going? Travis can see himself standing on the sidewalk with everyone, any of them, and laughing at some stupid joke. He watches as the crowds plan who will ride with whom, who knows where they are going, where they can crash afterwards.

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: Athens, Ian Fleming, life, meaning, night, Travis Fleeting

If you start at Mean Mike’s, walk out across Clayton Street and then turn right and walk to College Avenue, across College Avenue, you’ll see “Shitty” Bar. Both City Bar and Mean Mike’s serve alcohol. Any common themes end there. City Bar has high ceilings and wood paneled walls. There are plants and a classy bar. There’s a bartender named Evan Hille. He knows how to make every drink there is. And if you make up a drink name and ask him to make it, he will tell you to go to hell. That wouldn’t be so funny except that he says it so politely.

Travis sidles up to the bar in the back of the room, squeezing between two clusters of friends and holds out his five dollars. When Evan comes over to take his order, Travis asks for a Daisycutter. Evan replies, “Go to hell,” and smiles very nicely.

“Okay. How about a gin and tonic then.” Nodding, Evan moves to fetch the drink while Travis waits patiently and thinks about all the stupid drink names he’d come up with to fool old Evan. Travis isn’t a regular at the bar—he is a regular at Mean Mike’s—but Evan knows who he is because of the originality of his fake drink names: Daisycutter, Sea Urchin, Asimov cocktail, and Sapphire and Deluth, and the fact that he’s caught a show or two.

Evan comes back with a gin and tonic in a pint glass and put it in front of Travis. “Three dollars.”

Travis raises his eyebrows in surprise and looks to Evan.

“I liked that one,” Evan replies. “It was original.”

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: City Bar, Clayton Street, Daisycutter, Dizzy Dearborn, Evan, Ian Flemming, John Riffing, Kristen Ford, Nick Vaughn, Shitty Bar, Travis Fleeting

“It’s just that I was bored at work and there wasn’t anything to read.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ve been a slacker about it. I’m still really interested in pursuing it, but I’ve been distracted by some other things.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Well, my art, I guess. It’s nice to get away from the word now and then, if you know what I mean. That, and I’ve been kind of enamored with writing letters—like, hand-written letters.”

“Wow. I haven’t gotten one of those in a while.”

“Right!? I thought it was important in a couple of cases. But, anyway, I’ve gotten over that stuff—I mean, I’ve finished that stuff. Back to work.”

“Good!”

Read the whole story so far: Incunabula

Characters and Places: Daphne Dearborn, deadline, late, thenarrator

The lights come up and Travis tries to smile at the crowd that is cheering and clapping. But the muscles flexed are in the wrong corner of his cheek, his “smile” pulling tight. He bites his lip, knows that just right now he cannot smile. How he would trade this for friends&emdash;everyone around him a stranger&emdash;his love a haunting apparition. It is rushing, and he can feel it: the future. But if he could hold off change with a real smile he would find every reflection of past happiness and focus its mirrored rays until he burned with joy.

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy, The Gutar Solos

Characters and Places: bargaining, Guitar Solo, the Future, Travis Fleeting

She steps stealthy through the French doors, almost ducking out of the room in order to keep anyone else from noticing, knowing that he’s out on the veranda and wanting him to herself for just a moment. She turns into the shadows of the rooftop garden and sure enough there he is, looking out over Park Avenue with his clove cigarette, thinking about God knows what. She sneaks up to him and says in a quiet voice, “It must be nice—”

He turns surprised but immediately smiles.

“—all these people having a party for you…”

“Oh… well.” he hesitates, looking out again at the lit up buildings, listening to the occasional horn bounce and fade its way up the steel valley. “It’s not really for me, is it?”

“What do you mean? They’re all hear to celebrate your success.”

“In a sense, yes.”

She stands and stares at him a moment before setting her champagne glass down on the base of a small statue, an angel of some sort and crossing her arms. He responds by taking his jacket off and putting it on her shoulders. The lining is smooth and warm and she pulls it around herself as he maneuvers her around to look back in the doors at the party, which looks to be in full swing, crowded, adorned, everyone talking and gesticulating.

“I mean to say that they’re not having a good time for me—for my sake. Everyone here had a reason to party today. They were looking forward to going out and having a good time, happy getting ready—except a few, I suppose. But I’m just the excuse—no different than a calendar day or St. Patrick, really.”

Read the whole story so far: The Fabulous Bastard

Characters and Places: 5th Avenue, kiss, party, Stephanie Persson, Steven Fitzgerald

In the last several weeks, Absinthe, Nick’s cat, had developed some very peculiar habits. John was fond of channeling Freud, “Zis cat has issues.” Among them was one that was particularly horrible. Every morning it took to following the first member of the household who was awake and, like “screaming.” There’s no other way to describe it. Most cats meow at their owners, a kind gesture welcoming a new day, just a pleasant natural sound—like birds chirping or dogs barking. This was simply not what Absynthe did. This furry, black reincarnation of a bad horror film actress would literally sit at the feet of its caretakers and for five to six seconds at a time release a surreal vocal noise at a most god awful pitch.

Read the whole story so far: Carousel Cowboy

Characters and Places: annoyances, black cat, Freud, John Riffing, Nick Vaughn, Travis Fleeting, vocal