Warm Leather

Episode 2:

The wallet is still warm. We wonder together, how did this happen? Was the wallet’s owner riding a motorcycle, too? I check my back pocket and feel the auspicious mass of my own wallet.

We do not linger on the road. We gather up the bills and the wallet quickly. We do not examine the contents of the wallet. For me, there is some self-reproach in finding a stranger’s wallet. I hand the wallet to Hamsini and we get back on the bike. She hugs my waist tightly. I already said, I am the luckiest guy in the world. Hamsini is a resident urologist. She is smart and beautiful and funny.

We decide to stay on the bramble covered island a bit longer. We head to the island’s commercial center and enter a dark place called the Go-Go Girls. It turns out to be a restaurant full of lesbians wearing gum boots. This is not a scene to be affronted by; it is simply a fact. Everyone is fully clothed. If there are pasties worn, they are obscured by Carharts and flannel. I find this odd on such a warm evening.

We order gin and tonics and sushi. We sit next to an aquarium full of African cichlids raking the gravel bottom.