Alice couldn’t believe she was
sitting in the Black Rose having a Guinness with Dave Brennan. It was heady. He
was talking to her not as her bosses did – dismissively, as if they might lose
some irretrievable gem by giving her their attention – but respectfully, as if
her opinion – or her approval of his opinion – had some actual consequence in
the universal scheme of things.
Alice tore her gaze away from his
face – the intensity of his acceptance making her dizzy – and traced a drop of
condensation down the side of her pint.
“When Noam Chomsky was last here,”
Dave Brennan said, “we sat discussing Zellig Harris…”
Alice smiled and raised her
eyebrows, unwilling to interrupt with a question that might reveal an inability
to place a reference or recognize a player. Her mind raced to keep up with the
connections that rolled off of Dave Brennan’s tongue. Harris believed… Surface
structure meant… She made a snarky comment, unaware she’d spoken aloud until
she saw his smile, heard his laugh and realized they were for her.
“Yes,” he said. “Exactly.” He
continued unravelling the intricacies of structural linguistics while her brain
kicked into overdrive. The timbre of his voice rose and fell around them like
the tune to some anthem only they knew. Her head filled with sparkles, and her
eyes lost focus.
Seconds later, Alice felt
herself return to the table, the beer, Dave Brennan’s voice. She hoped he
hadn’t noticed. She checked the corner of her mouth for drool with a quick lick
of her tongue.
You’re sitting here with Dave
Brennan, she thought. Dave Brennan is sitting here with you!
Alice was talking herself down
from a paralyzing state of ecstasy. ‘Listen now,’ she told herself. ‘Pay
attention.’
Dave Brennan’s voice once
again took over the air between them, its cadence marking her heartbeat. She
recognized the name of a local politician she’d once worked for, and nodded,
ready to offer him this tidbit of information.
Dave Brennan talked on.
The title comes from this Stephen Crane poem: http://kymminbarcelona.tumblr.com/post/48612186249/i-saw-a-man-pursuing-the-horizon-by-stephen-crane
'13 Untitled (Sally) 51,668;
'12 Barcelona Clash 51,878;
'11 Mojo Madness 52,793;
'10 Changing Directions 53,400;
'09 Daybreak 56,565;
'08 Vacant 52,486