One Last Beer

[thisnewday]

Some years ago, I made a half-serious, half tongue-in-cheek proposal to an LJ friend. I'd been to Key West and back, in much the same way that I'd been to the West Coast and back. That is, I'd returned home only to find myself beset by unremitting thoughts of unfulfilled hopes and dreams.

By that time, much of the world, except for the climate change deniers and those of their ilk, was concerned about the future of places like Key West, whose romance and legend and very existance would be threatened if nothing were done.

Now, with a second Cat 5 storm within a period of weeks, bearing down on yet another low-lying population center of the US, there may be reason to fear that what we have feared, and done little to ameliorate, may well be upon us.

Anyway, this is what I wrote back then. I know, it's shorter than the backstory preceeding it. But the island itself contains much in a small space, like Hemingway's prose, and the time I was there was a short, intensely engaging part of my life.

And so, to follow, few words but hopefully much feeling. Half of which must come from those who read it. Which is something my LJ friend would've known...

LPK
Dreamwidth
9.6.2017

10:03 pm - Proposition

Let's meet in Key West, in one of those dark, sleezy bars just off Duval Street. We'll drink to ol' Hem and smoke Cuban cigars and sneer at the tourists who never come in but stare from the doorway. Then we'll scribble some notes on beer-soaked napkins and say how lucky we are to have seen it this way.

And when they tell us that we have to leave, that a monster storm is on its way, we'll look at them and say, "Fuck it, we're gonna stay, for one last beer..."

LPK
LiveJournal
7.8.2006 (a)

Comments

[rosegardenfae]

Love this piece, it's what got me interested in Hemingway and I think one of my most favorite of your writings. Talk about defiance.

So often "Fuck it" seems the best answer.

[thisnewday]

LOL, truth be told, "Fuck it" is almost always the best answer...