A Visit From Nadrienne

July,1981    Rocky Neck, East Gloucester,  Massachusetts

I hadn’t seen or heard from Nadrienne since she left Boulder in early June 1979. She split for Chicago the day we were about to leave an apartment on University Avenue so everyone ended up paying a higher share of rent & security deposit. I might have held a grudge but 2 weeks later I bailed and boarded a Greyhound bus for Boston, torn up with jealousy & bitterness after Kathe Camera had taken up with this guy Ray.

It was a warm mid summer evening I had just got out of work. I got a phone call from my friend Kay Reuben that Nadrienne was in town and staying at her house in Rocky Neck. Kay said Nadrienne was hoping to see me before she & little Ehvom returned to her grandmother’s house in Chicago.

I drove over to Kay’s around 10:00 PM  and her husband Rob answered the door. “Come on in Paul- I was just about to roll a joint. ” he said. ” I guess you could twist my arm Rob” I replied and we both laughed. Nadrienne  was sitting in the living room with Kay. She gave me a big hug and I sat next to her on the Reuben’s sofa. I took a drag of the joint Bob had rolled and handed it to Nadrienne. We looked in each others eyes and smiled, remembering the driving adventure two springs ago. I guess you could call it euphoric recall. The last couple weeks of our sojourn had not gone well for any of us but at the moment it just felt good to be next to her, connecting with a part of our past. We chatted about old times and finished a bottle of Chablis with the Reubens, then Kay and Bob said goodnight and headed upstairs. Nadrienne went upstairs to check on Ehvom then returned. I hadn’t planned to stay there very long but it felt so comfortable hanging out with her again. I thought of that feeling we had cruising through Indianapolis with a black balloon attached to the antenna  Kathe’s 1966 Dodge Coronet, saying we were the “Black Baloon Anarchist Collective.” We laughed about how freaked out Kathleen Mcclaughlin had been about Nadrienne breast feeding Ehvom. “You know in some parts of Africa women breastfeed their kids till they’re 5 or 6”, Nadrienne said. “I didn’t mind… I kinda liked watching you” I giggled. “You pig!” she laughed. It felt good being that close to her. I knew she was going back to Chicago in a couple of days. I knew I was on the verge of changing jobs, not sure where I was going or what I’d do next, except at that moment I want to hold Nadrienne as close as I could. We were kissing like two high school kids at a summer drive in, getting warmer, getting closer. At a certain point Nadrienne smiled and said, “I guess our relationship has changed…”  I said,”Yeah I guess you could say that”.