December 30, 2000

"You know," I venture, "We could just watch a movie. I have all those DVDs."

"Just watch a movie? You mean just you and me?"

"Sure."

"That's kind of gay. What would we watch?"

"Beaches."

"You know, I've never seen that. But I do like Bette Midler."

"I was just kidding."

"Oh. Yeah. Me too."

"Virtua Tennis it is."

"You don't even have Beaches, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"See, that's how I knew you were just kidding. I didn't think you really had it."

Jude comes through the front door. "Hey you, guys," he says, "Are you the only ones here?" Jude is always late to Shoot Club. He also never brings anything, but he'll eat and drink unabashedly.

"Where's all the food?" he asks, going past the table with Trevor's empty donut box. "There's nothing to drink," he calls from the kitchen.

Trevor looks at me, exasperated. "Now what are we going to do? There are three of us. There are no games for three people."

Jude emerges from the kitchen with a glass of water.

"Man, what a lame Shoot Club. Just water and you guys."

"Here, take over for me, I'm winning in Virtua Tennis." Trevor hands Jude the Sega controller and takes a little leather case from his Phantom Menace backback. He heads for the bathroom.

"What in case?" Jude asks, "Heroin?"

"Yeah, I got my needles and stuff in here. I'm going to fire up."

"I think the phrase is 'shoot up'."

"Maybe where you come from, but I've seen Trainspotting."

Ten minutes later, Trevor comes out. As far as I can tell, he doesn't look any thinner or hairier than when he entered. He regards me and Jude playing Virtua Tennis. "Hey, no fair. What am I supposed to play while you guys are doing that?"

"Here, take over for me."

I hand him the controller and write this while Trevor and Jude play Virtua Tennis for a half hour. When they get bored we watch Holy Grail, which we've seen so many times we don't laugh anymore. Half way through, Jude goes into the kitchen and looks through the cupboards for something to eat. Trevor hears him banging around and decides to go ahead and have a glass of tap water. I make a bowl of tomato soup and wait for the holidays to end.

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