Farhead and the Massachusetts Two-Step
Driver said it was bad luck to tell good news without a round of drinks beforehand. So they had that. And then he told some of the news. And then he said there was more. So another round was called for. And then, because he was a careful man, he gave the more and allowed as how there was just one further wee addition. And so a final round had to be added.
And so it was that returning home, Farhead parked, not in the garage, but in a snowbank where the driveway started. Now he was in that good a mood that this minor misfortune seemed inconsequential. Therefore he ignored it and walked through the door with a smile on his lips and the good news in his heart just chomping at the bit to be let out.
Nearheart however had watched the parking fiasco from a window and had her own idea about his smile. So Farhead's good news had to wait while she assailed him for his drunkenness.
As she was catching her breath to resume, he got out the one word that might save him. "Job!" he exclaimed, with one finger pointed toward her like a magic wand.
The storm that had been gathering outside meanwhile began to coat with ice the picture window facing on the sea. The glass became as glazed as Farhead's eyes.
"I see," said Nearheart, when the last wee addition of good news was done. "Your friend Driver, who works for the movies, wants you with him on this next film, in which he will advise about things nautical, of which you know nothing, having grown up in the desert in Iran. And Massachusetts is where the story takes place, and this is Nova Scotia. A fisherman's daughter and a visiting millionaire have an ill-fated love affair. The millionaire is renting our house so it has to be painted to look more like a house a millionaire would rent. And they will pay us for using the house and will do the repainting for free. Our shabby old cottage uplifted. How kind. And lastly they will let me be a background actor, for which I'm paid nothing but get to meet the stars. Does that about sum it up?"
"Oh," said Farhead, with a ghost of his former smile still on his lips, "There was just this one other thing. That I thought was funny. I thought you might think it was funny. He said the real name of the movie is going to be Taking The Bait. But he calls it the Massachusetts Two-Step, for the very same reason that you pointed out. He did a little happy dance. And it was him who paid for all the drinks. For everybody. Fancy that."
Nearheart wished that she could do the Nova Scotia Two-Step with some ruby slippers on and find it was Toronto after all, pre-pandemic, and them still in their townhouse in the Yorkville district and him still with his job where he left her alone some of the time. She was trying not to say it since she knew that it would hurt him. And then she heard him snoring. And then felt so relieved. And then put a pillow under him and a blanket over him and a log on the fire. And then let herself cry for a while.
5 February 2022
Texas Jim
Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca