I’m writing a letter at a table in a\ndive bar. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s high noon on a weekday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A B-Western plays on television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Doors play on the jukebox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gamblers gamble at slots. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man bolts into the bar, a local\ntweaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s tweaking. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We know each other. He’s asked about\nwriting. He once told me a priceless Oregon dog story that I used in\na book. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He keeps a journal and writes fantasy\nstories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shows me some chapters on his phone.\nHe shows me where he writes at home. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He never writes when tweaking. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He started using again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He doesn’t tell me that. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he’s sitting right across from and\nI know enough to know. He knows I know and our eyes don’t meet. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He presents a folded napkin to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He unfolds it and reveals agates,\ncollected that very morning while tweaking. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also see two tiny packets of\nsomething. He doesn’t comment on them. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Impossible. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one gives meth to someone writing a\nletter in a dive bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe someone just did. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He thanks me for always talking to him.\nI thank him for the agates. He leaves. He’s always respectful of my\ntime when I write at the table, which is every time I’m here. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I place the agates on a shelf of the\nlending library behind me. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I toss the tiny packets in the garbage\nwithout opening them up. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I start writing again, but not the\nletter. \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m writing a letter at a table in a dive bar. It’s high noon on a weekday. A B-Western plays on television. The Doors play on the jukebox. Gamblers gamble at slots. A man bolts into the bar, a local tweaker. He’s tweaking. We know each other. He’s asked about writing. He once told me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}