Hope Idiotic | Part 30
Hope Idiotic is a serialized novel. Catch each new part every week on Monday and Thursday.
DESPITE THE FUNERAL THAT MORNING, opening night of The Greatest Recession Ever! was a hit. The show sold out.
“I wish I could be there for you today, “ Chuck said to Lou over the phone that morning. “You know, for your pop’s funeral and opening night. I just can’t.”
“Don’t worry about it, man. I know you got my back. I know you would if you could. I’m fine.”
After the show, Lou, Mark and the cast went across the street to Cork Screw Tavern for celebratory drinks. Michelle and other significant others and friends joined them. Michelle left before Lou because she had to get up early and go to work after having taken the day off to attend the funeral. Lou and Mark closed the bar down at 2 a.m. Lou didn’t remember getting home. And that’s how it went every Friday night for the next five weeks of the show’s run.
With the sadness of Pop dying, the excitement of the play and Michelle preparing to buy a condo, Lou had plenty of reasons to drink. And so he did. A subdued aggravation grew in that small apartment with the incredible view that Lou and Michelle called home. He wanted to talk about the play; she didn’t. She wanted to talk about the new condo; he didn’t. These were the two biggest things in their lives at that time and both knew that discussing them could result in a disastrous fight. But what were they going to do; not talk at all? There was no choice, yet somehow, they managed to be civil during these wretched conversations.
“I wish I didn’t have to buy this condo on my own,” Michelle said, while reviewing some paperwork.
“You’re not. I’m here to help you.” said Lou.
“You helped me find it. But you’re not helping me pay for it. I wanted my first home to be the first home with my husband. I wanted this to be something we did together.”
With that gun pointed at his face and him breathing in that smoke, and the advice of his late grandfather ringing in his desperate ears, Lou caved.
It was a great condo. A few blocks west from the current apartment, still in the yuppie-drenched Near West neighborhood, it was a three-bedroom, two-bath in a three-story walk-up with hardwood floors, washer and dryer in-unit, a garage, brand-new appliances and plenty of natural light. There was a nice-sized balcony off the master bedroom where Michelle was excited about having a grill and growing a small garden, although she’d never had so much as a houseplant in her life. That was something you would see a lot of in Chicago: balconies located off the master bedrooms. This never made sense to Lou. A balcony with a grill and a garden is a great place to entertain friends, but that means that friends need to traipse through the bedroom to get outside. Even without friends to hang out on the balcony, the freshly grilled grub had to be carried through the bedroom to be served in the kitchen or living room located at the front of the condo. It didn’t create a good flow for the way people naturally lived. But this was how it was in Chicago, and nothing was ever perfect. Sometimes, you just have to settle for having your balcony hanging off your master bedroom.
While Lou couldn’t buy the condo with Michelle because they weren’t married and he was broke, he was able to offer up previous buyer experiences and advice. Not buying the condo together was the smoking gun that proved Lou was not as successful as he wanted to be and should have been, both professionally and personally. He still had the engagement ring. He could have proposed but with the relationship still on shaky ground, he didn’t think it was the right time. Plus, he knew that he’d only be marrying her for her condo.
With that gun pointed at his face and him breathing in that smoke, and the advice of his late grandfather ringing in his desperate ears, Lou caved and went to work at the sheet-metal company.
“I don’t want to be a union worker, Dad,” he told Benjamin over lunch in the city. “But maybe there’s something I can do for…I don’t know…for marketing the company. You know, help bring in more business.”
“I know that Don could use some help with estimating.” Don was an old friend of Benjamin’s and the owner of the company.
“What’s that mean?”
“You find jobs to bid on, or create the bid, based on job opportunities that come in. We’re not getting as many jobs because Don doesn’t have the time to spend on the estimations.”
“Hell, I can learn how to do that. Would Don be okay with me coming on?”
“Why don’t you give him a call?”
