Larry's blog

Paulie was the one who came up with the idea. It was always Paulie. He had the vivid imagination, the false bravado, and just enough poor decision-making to come up with somewhat plausible schemes that usually ended in disaster. We were hanging out on the bench on Nostrand and Ave V outside of Joey's housing project along with Paulie's younger brother Tony and Vinny who was the youngest at 17. The rest of us were 18 or 19. "Hey, you guys heard about the DJ they have at the Ramada Inn on Saturday nights? They play a lot of oldies from the 70's. You know why? It attracts a lot of older ladies looking for younger guys like us. They want young studs for some action. We dance with them a little, get some drinks, and before you know it, they're going to a room with us. Are you guys in for this Saturday?" There was a long hesitation before I broke the silence. "I'm in. At least we can have fun dancing to the oldies and have some laughs...

The railway station was mostly empty, perhaps not surprising for a weekday afternoon after the tourist season ended. Wyatt ordered two espressos at the outdoor cafe on the way to the platform. "Do you want sugar?" he asked his partner of seven years. Lucy made a face and thought a second. "Normally I would, but I think I should cut back. No sugar for me." He put up one finger and said, "one sugar for me and none for her," to the man behind the counter. "I'll take our luggage to the table while you wait for the espressos." Lucy settled into a chair opposite Wyatt at the table nearby. "Do you ever think what might have been?" she said. "That baby could have had your brains and my looks" "What if it had my looks and your brains?" "Hey, you're not that bad looking." "And you're not as dumb as you look." "Hey, is that supposed to be a compliment?" she said sl...