The Chosen

This realization, too, dazzled him. It seemed to purge him of mankind’s flaws. Love. Real love. Could there be any greater or more complete truth? He proposed to her only a week ago; she’d said yes immediately. It had been murder waiting, though: they’d been involved for two years but Paul knew in the first week that she was the one. Sometimes you just knew. You knew at a glance, you knew in a heartbeat—the essence of real love. It made him feel very grateful, to God, or fate, or whatever.

No relationship was perfect; too often couples failed because one side was left holding the bag of responsibility—one person making all the effort, the other making none. But Paul and Vera had grown into each other. They’d each made the effort to overcome life’s obstacles. It was almost too easy. That was how he knew it was real—the manner in which their bond had developed. Sometimes he could melt just thinking about her, seeing her in his mind: her beauty, her kindness, her ideals. He could not imagine being with anyone else in the world.

Paul’s love made him feel exalted.

“Excuse me. Aren’t you Paul Kirby? The writer?”

Paul glanced up. Two women stood to his right, a redhead and a blonde. “That’s right,” he said. “How did you know?”

“I saw your picture in the Capital once,” explained the redhead. “I’ve read a lot of your stuff.”

Paul felt distantly flattered; he was not used to being picked out of a crowd, especially in a bar crowd. He tried to think of an erudite reply, but some distraction pecked at him. Dots of light from the glitterball roved the redhead’s bare shoulders. She wore a short strapless black dress with a sash, black nylons, black heels. A knockout. The blonde looked less formal: a shiny blue blouse and designer jeans. She was slim, wan. Straight white-blond hair had been cut straight just below the bottom of her earlobes. She smiled meekly and said, “The City Paper said you were doing some articles on singles bars.”

“And that you’d be here tonight,” the redhead finished.

“Ah, so you girls came here just to meet me,” Paul joked.

“Maybe,” the blonde replied.

That was it. That was his distraction. Guilt. Single guy. Singles bar. Two single girls. Subconsciously he felt in violation. I’m an observer, he reminded himself, not that he needed to. He knew he wouldn’t cheat on Vera under any circumstance—he had no desire for anyone else. It was just the ideal that haunted him. But this was a good thing. He could talk to these girls, try to analyze them for their perceptions. It would make the article better.

“Actually, my name’s Dan Quayle,” Paul said. “Can my father buy you two a drink?’’

The girls laughed and sat down on either side. He ordered them each White Russians, a Heineken for himself, and rolled his eyes when the suspendered barkeep brought him a Corona.

Then the redhead leaned forward, eyes alight, and said, “So, Paul, tell us about your article.”

««—»»

At precisely the same moment, Vera Abbot strode through the entrance of another bar, a small brick-and-mortar tavern called The Undercroft. “The ’Croft,” as it was known to regulars, existed quite apart from the downtown hangouts and dance clubs. It was a bar with brains which attracted a specific patronage: beer connoisseurs, artists, writers, academicians, etc., not drunks, floozies, and sex predators. Ceiling rafters sported hundreds of imported beer coasters. Pennants decorated the front walls, from breweries as obscure as George Gale, Mitchell’s, and Ayinger. The long polished bar accommodated ten taps, and their inventory boasted over a hundred beers from all over the world. The ’Croft was not a place where one came to drink Bud.

Winter now had its teeth firmly set;