Wednesday, September 14, 2005

No Show


Collingwood is deserted on this Tuesday evening in early September at 11:00 pm. It is the first day of school, so it is naturally quiet. Unlike the hot days of summer when everyone is up late and antsy, unable to sleep.

I question my decision of waiting so long for a break from work. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to wait for summer to be over. It is very quiet and depressing. My mind is filled with childhood memories as I drive down the deserted streets in search of A) Food and B) Gas. Whatever I find first is where I stop first.

Naturally it was an open gas station. This is going to hurt, $1.26 per litre. The most I have paid so far was $1.05 and I thought that was bad. It ended up costing me $48.00 to fill my car. Not too long ago the most I paid to fill my car would have been around $33.00. I wonder how all those people who commute back and forth from here to the city every day will handle this increased expenditure.

After paying for my gas, I stand at my car for a moment and look up and down the street that is filled with every kind of junk food emporium you can think of, looking for a lit sign that might be calling my name. All the Arches and beacons are turned off though and I decide to head back to Wasaga Beach where I can stop at Tim Horton’s on the way and get a huge coffee and perhaps a sandwich.

It’s midnight when I pull back into the parking lot. The elderly couple in the room beside me have long since gone to bed. Now I need to concentrate on getting myself to sleep. Considering that I am very bored, it shouldn’t be too hard. It wasn’t. I think I only read three pages of my book before turning out the light and drifting off.

The light shining through the spot where the blind was missing slats (at the very edge, 3 or 4 verticals) woke me up early. It was only 8:00am. Unlike a day where I am going to work, this morning I actually looked forward to getting out of bed and starting my day. From the amount of sunlight already pouring into the room, it looked like it would be a good one.

Debbie called just before leaving her place so that I would know when she was arriving. I didn’t think I would be travelling too far from the motel so I wasn’t too worried about it. After talking to Debbie, I thought I should at least phone home and check in with my mother to make sure everything was ok there.

She helped me while away some more minutes but once again I am looking around the motel room, wondering what to do next. Breakfast sounds like an idea, but that most likely means heading back to Collingwood. I don’t expect anything to be open at the Beach, so rather than irritating myself by looking, I head directly to Town around 10:30 am.

My favourite restaurant in Collingwood is Duncan’s CafĂ©. I know that I will get a nice breakfast there and my mouth is watering as I drive there. I try to call Debbie so that she can join me but she doesn’t answer her cell phone and she doesn’t have voice mail. I like how easy it is to get in touch with her. No matter, I’ll be back before she arrives.

I’m not though. I eat breakfast and stop into my old office to see Judy and Carolyn. I can’t be this close and not say hello. We talk briefly, I assist Judy with a cranky client and then I leave to return to the Beach. I need to be back by 1:30pm and it is already 12:30.

I manage to make it back by 1:00 and I see Debbie sitting by the pool, already in her bathing suit. It looks inviting and I change immediately and mix us some drinks. Ignoring the sign on the gate to the pool "No Glasses", I yell for Debbie to open it up because I can’t manage the latch and two glasses of vodka and pop. It was special blueberry flavoured vodka with Sprite. A perfect combination.

When I had gone into the motel room to change, I had noticed two cd’s sitting on my notebook on the table and wondered why Debbie would bring cd’s considering she had stayed at the motel previously, she should know it didn’t come with a stereo.

It dawned on me though as I made my way to the pool that Musicman must have arrived early and dropped them off. Maybe Debbie met him. I am anxious to see what she thinks.

"Did you meet my friend?"

"What friend?"

"My music friend, the one that dropped those cd’s off."

"Oh those cd’s, I wondered why they were sitting there. No, I didn’t meet anyone, they were already on the table when I arrived."

"They were?" "What time did you get here?"

"Around 11:30."

"Really?" "Gee, that’s really weird. He said he was going to come by at 1:30. Why would he stop by earlier and how did he get into our room?"

"That is weird. I don’t know but it is kind of creepy if you ask me. You don’t even know him, do you?"

"No. Not really."

"That must have been who the cleaning lady saw. She said that she saw the guy that owns that convertible right there, going into your room earlier."

"No, it wasn’t him. I saw that couple last night. Maybe Musicman looks like him from the back."

"Well she was all confused thinking you were here with convertible guy. And then she said something about you driving Dan (the guy in the office) nuts."

"That pisses me off. I’ll tell you all about that bullshit later."

After telling my story of the previous day and evening and throwing the empty vodka bottle in the trash, a very sunburned Debbie and I, headed out to dinner at the Rockdell. Yes, it was almost in Collingwood but it was a far cry from driving to the Keg in Barrie which was Debbie’s choice.

….to be continued.

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