Bring Everybody: Stories

Chapter 4 - The Paisley Arms

BOOKCOMP, Inc. — University of Massachusetts Press / Page 31 / Printer Proof / Bring Everybody / Yates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 [31], (31) Lines: 478 to 494 ——— 13.601pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [31], (31) The Paisley Arms As a middle-aged man, I came to a western city seeking solace, following a dust-up of the existential kind. No microwave in the time-warp apartment, but how charming , this ancient hot plate complementing a like-vintage, small refrigerator , humming in its dotage. In a bad light, but a hopeful mood, I continue the tour, regard the faded elegance: walls wainscoted in ascension to high ceilings, a cherry wood armoire, small hexagonal bathroom tiles, a footed tub, and, from my window (I’m fifth floor), the view down to the park blocks leafy with April’s assurances . Many of my fellow tenants look like refugees, many just look old, these accommodations so unlike barbecue-balcony singles places with alarmed cars in the lot, Jacuzzi schmoozing if your abs are presentable. My place is urban, near the public library, kittycorner from a Christian Science Reading Room. Not a venue for folks on the way up, yet neither does it suggest the skids—simply a place to lie low and lick wounds. Chapter Two of Interior Design Your Own Winning Life Style insists the right space is crucial if we are to say yes to breaking ground on the construction of a multiviable personality. Chapter Two assumes that we “wrecking-balled” that old loser we were, demolished it with a defiant affirmative to Chapter One’s bold, inquiring title: “Are You Ready To Move On?” I was, I had so moved. – 31 – BOOKCOMP, Inc. — University of Massachusetts Press / Page 32 / Printer Proof / Bring Everybody / Yates Bring Everybody – 32 – 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 [32], (32) Lines: 494 to 509 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [32], (32) The image of demolition returns in reference to my new address, The Paisley Arms (one thinks of tattoos), as I settle in at the Portofino Café, around the corner and down two. “When the price is right, make way for a parking structure,” says Arturo, chef, owner, prognosticator. “What about historical preservation?” “That’s what I’m saying. The place is history.” Arturo wears an apron that matches the plasticized table covers. Upon closer inspection , I see that he wears a tablecloth. At The Paisley Arms, you buzz up guests, of whom I have none, but I observe, when in and outing, how folks shout into the buzz box, treating it as elderly and hearing-impaired. (We of The Paisley Arms are not your cell-phone crowd.) Occasionally, I get buzzbox shouts for the previous tenant, Tranh Phu, unless those words are Vietnamese for Hey, it’s me! And at times I hear other voices calling to other rooms, muted and fugitive, like pleading from a bathysphere, cries of the doomed. I buy a radio and listen to a feature claiming houseplants combat indoor pollution. Convinced, I plan to shop for such an efficacious plant, yet in the meantime, below my windows, the trees in their early summer leaves lushly intersect, and I think of rare, arboreal primates of the rain forests, living and dying without descending to the jungly floor. I descend for the number nine bus heading north to my new job at Acres of Books, department of acquisitions, a posting suggestive for my renewal: I will acquire—slowly, deliberately—a reconstructed self. I will, as they say on the street, get a life. At Arturo’s, there’s always a daily special. For example, Monday: baked ziti, salad and small beverage. Tuesday: choice of cheese or meat ravioli, salad and beverage. I take the special. Keeps my diet varied. And I get to say, “The usual, Arturo.” I favor the vinegar and oil dressing with that and pay extra for an espresso. Today, Arturo’s boy is painting a Venetian scene along one wall, copying it from a book. The most challenging part is proving to be the gondolier’s [18.119.135.202] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 15:57...