2001-09-04 - 5:31 p.m.

We wind up in the parking lot of an outdoor show � just out of sight, a Metallica tribute band is jamming onstage, while Marius shouts, �Hey, long-hair!� and gives them the hard sell and Melvin splays out under the soothing hand of a kind dog-loving girl.

I go check on Melvin, then chat a bit with this girl. I can do that, mainly because I�m not attracted to her. Maybe that�s why she bothers talking to me. The attractive girl who will strike up a conversation with me of her own accord does not exist.

I tell her I�m with Marius. She�s perplexed but amused, can�t quite understand what I�m doing here. I look like I don�t belong here, I look like about the exact opposite of him. I tell her I know. We�re the original odd couple. Ha-cha-cha-cha.

�But you don�t have to stand around with the dog, I can take care of him,� she says.

�Yeah, maybe I�ll wander around a bit, maybe come back in a while.�

�Not that I�m telling you to leave,� she says. �You seem�interesting.�

Yes, I know. But don�t you see that we were not meant to be? You are not the one in 10 girls I am attracted to, nor the one in 10 of those who will say word one to me, nor the one in 10 of those who I will find interesting, or the one in ten of those who will find me so. I know my odds are long and I�m not helping, but this is the way it always is and I can�t find the other way. I must wander off anyway in search of her; she�s got to be out here somewhere. Was she that girl I watched as she sat alone at the bar we stopped in a few hours ago? I wouldn�t know; I didn�t talk to her.

I go into the show; Battery is ripping into a rousing version of �Creeping Death.� Perhaps the girl I need is the one sitting here with her friend. I sit down near her table and say hello. Are you the guy who was with the guy with the dog? she asks me. That�s me, I say. The guy with the guy with the dog. Turns out she�s divorced. Has a kid who�s 16. It occurs to me that I have a sister who�s younger than that, but decide not to mention it.

So I look around, watch the band, chat a bit more with the girl who�s watching Melvin, and when the night ends, I�m back where I started as usual. It�s nothing ventured, nothing gained for me as usual. The gains just don�t seem worth the venture.

Not Marius. He�s a gambler. He�s not afraid to put his chips on the line. While I was watching the band, he had taken a girl to some quiet corner and made out with her. She told him she wanted him, she wanted him to come to her place just a few blocks away. All that remains is to find her again.

But we wait and wait and she doesn�t come out. We slowly pack up the car, load all the videos in back and she doesn�t come out. She must have run off somewhere. Marius curses himself. �I had her,� he says. �She was all over me.�

It�s like he just lost at the races. That's okay, I think. It's just not our lucky day.

-

It�s getting late. Champs is closed. No girls tonight. So we stop by his buddy Jack�s place. It�s four a.m., but he�s accepting visitors anyway. We sit on the back room of his south side building, a nice view of the old cars and appliances out back. Jack fixes them.

�How�s Sebastian doing?� Marius asks. He�s talking about a dog that Eddie took over when Marius couldn�t watch him any more. �He�s a good boy, right?�

�Naw, I gotta keep an eye on him,� he says. �He bit my girlfriend. He�s bit a couple people.�

Jack is a strange fellow. He tells us about a buddy of his who�s in jail now for selling guns to gang members. And forget the dog; he got bit by a human a few weeks back.

He rolls up his sleeve to reveal a discoloration on his arm. At first he let it go, but it spread and got worse until he wound up in the hospital. Doctor said he�d be dead if he let it go another day.

Why�d the guy bite you, I ask. They had a dispute when they were throwing dice up at the tracks. I don�t know what that means. Don�t know why you�d need to go up to the tracks to throw dice. I guess Jack's just a strange fellow.

�You�ve got to stop throwing dice up on the tracks, dude,� Marius advises.

-

Marius runs into a convenience store for a pack of smokes before heading home. He comes back with a girl. That�s the way it goes, I guess. You tell enough girls it�s their lucky day, as Marius did while waiting for his change, and one is bound to agree.

She climbs into the front seat of the eggplant. She�s a British girl. They�re both going on faster than I can process at five in the morning.

�I just told her it was her lucky day, and it was,� Marius announces.

�Well, I hate to be a party pooper, you know,� she says.

�Yeah,� Marius says, sighing and leaning into the back seat of the eggplant. �I was hoping it would be my lucky day, but it looked like it wasn�t gonna happen. Until I met you.�

�Well, we�ll see about that,� she says. �We�ll see.�

First we stop by her place so she can pick up her things. She disappears into one of the apartments. We sit there a moment, then the moments drag into minutes. A guy waves to us from his seat on a nearby stoop. I double park and get out. The blabbering of the girl has been replaced by lingering silence. We begin to think we have been conned, that she has no intention of coming out.

�Waiting for the girl, eh?� the guy says. �The story of my life.�

I mutter something to him. Marius is too busy trying to figure out which building she went into to respond. Could it be? Could he have been fooled by the same trick twice in the same night?

But no. This is his lucky day. She comes rushing out, all apologies, just had to take care of a few things. We drive over to Marius� place, the girl blabbering all the time. I pull over; we both carry a box of videos. Then we come back downstairs to make sure he�s got everything. He�s all smiles, shaking my hand, �Thank you so much, dude!� and all that. It�s his lucky day.

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