A woman ducks around him and pokes his arm for his attention. He leans down to hear her and then shakes his head. She walks back to her seat and he recrosses his arms.
LaVoya is telling a story about an aged punk rocker who used to live in her building that everyone referred to as Cousin Wolf. It’s funny and sad. At least I gather that it’s funny and sad based on watching Vin’s facial expressions. Because I cannot tear my eyes away.
This is exactly how he must have felt when he found out about my drawing classes.
Hello, heretofore invisible other side of my partner, nice to meet you.
Next up, after LaVoya, is a guy named Bill. When he takes the stage, everybody saysBiiiiiiiilllllllllland it sounds like a round of booing, but he’s clearly loving every minute of it. He has a high, miniature-sounding voice and he talks a mile a minute. His story is about visiting this little island in the middle of Lake Michigan where scientists are apparently doing some sort of population study on wolves.
I’m starting to understand tonight’s topic. Basically, it’s just “whatever you think of when you hear the phrasethe big bad wolf.”
Bill’s story is sad. The people in the audience are shouting things like “Get ’em, Bill!” and “Tell it like it is!” At one point he mentions a cat and someone rings something called the cat bell. His story is about his parents’ messy divorce and spending a night with no sleeping bag and hearing wolves in the distance. But a full moon makes a special feature, and later, a girl he’ll come to love. So when he’s on the ferry ride back to the mainland (and we’re there with him), there’s a whiff of hope.
The mustached MC takes the stage and my stomach drops to my toes. Next up. Next up. Next up.
Oh, my God. Vin’s never interacted with a wolf in his entire life. What the hell is his story going to be about? What if it’s bad? Or, perhaps even scarier, what if it’s good?
Also, it occurs to me all at once that Vin is for sure going to see me from the stage. I’m standing here, in the back, but everyone in front of me is seated. Crap! Where to hide?
“Psst.” I whip around to my left and there…is Raff. He’s beckoning me over to the bend in the L-shaped bar. If I stand right next to him, we’ll be hidden by the line of people sitting in front of us.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I used to date Tammy,” he whispers. “She told me a few weeks ago that she spotted my brother here. I’ve been sneaking in since then. He doesn’t know I come.Shh.You’ll miss his intro.”
He tucks me in front of him and I peek around the shoulder of the enormous man in front of me. I can see the stage, but hopefully the stage can’t see me.
“Now, this next reader, despite being a bona fide newbie, needs no introduction. Why no introduction necessary? youmight ask. Because every single woman in this bar has already clocked him. But laaaaaadiesssss, he’s maaaaaarrrrried. He’ssomarried he makes the rest of us look a lot! more! single!” This intro is garnering a lot of hoots and hollers, and Vin has one hand over his eyes like he wishes he could blink out of existence.
Also, a lot of the hooting and hollering is from me. This is like going to Barnes & Noble and stumbling on a shirtless calendar starring your husband.
Also,also,I’m so nervous I could puke. Thank God that Raff is here because if I didn’t have his hands on my shoulders, I might shoot off into space like a bottle rocket.
The MC is looking like he’s planning on going on for a long time, but Vin has decided to clear him out. He’s walking up onto the stage and headed for the mic.
“Give it up for Big Vin DeLuuuuuca!”
And they do. Everybody screams. Everybody hollers. Everybody wants to hear what Vin has to say. And join the club, bitches! Because me too!
“Hi,” Vin says into the mic, and his deep, familiar voice heard in such a new and resounding way makes tears spring into my eyes. He’s adjusting the mic stand and asking people how they’re doing tonight.
I turn one-eighty and face Raff. “He knows how to adjust a mic stand,” I say behind my hands. Raff turns me back.
“Just watch,” he whispers.
And then Vin pulls a folded piece of paper out from his back pocket. He unfolds it, and the creases in the paper interact with the stage lights. For just a flash, there’s the shadow of a heart on that paper. And then he starts to talk.
There were three of us. Me, my wife, and my brother. We did good together. Because that’s family.
We don’t have a lot of money.
Actually. Never mind. I’m pretty sure my brother is secretly rich and he probably bought my mom her house in Jersey.
(Intrigue!)
(We got a rich brother, people!)
But that’s not the story I’m telling. What I’m trying to say is that we did not live, and never have lived, fancy. We’re the sort of people that if you break your phone screen, well then you have a broken phone screen until two years from now when you’re eligible for an upgrade.
