A movie, and going drinking with their Dad while Sean's on a cruise.

It’s summertime still, and the living is easy still, depending on where you live. In Phoenix, the temperature is over 117 this week. Around here each day, mostly, you get rain. It is bad upstate where a storm washed roads away. I have an orange bucket and it looks like five, six inches or more of rain this month have filled it. Up until yesterday, only Elena had been in the pool and that was back around July 4th. Teri went to dinner with some friends. Her friend Michelle is retiring and it is a cause to celebrate. They went to Bonefish Grill. That left dinner up to me. I wanted Yankee Tower Meatloaf, but Elena wasn’t home (She’s out with that man(?) Matt again. So that left Nastia and Sean for dinner with me. I switched gears after a text from Teri and decided to make tacos.

Nastia and Sean went swimming. I didn’t mind, it left me to cook by myself in peace and quiet. It also gave Nastia time to wear her brand new thong bikini. I asked her later if her mother knew she had it? She said no. I might have noted when we were at the beach last week or so ago I asked Teri after seeing a lot of cheeks at the beach, what would she do if Nastia wore a thong? I thought her answer was a shrug and what could we do? I did mention the thong later that night to Teri and she complained about Nastia’s lack of cash to pay her debts, but not directly about the thong. Sean, Nastia and I ate dinner at about seven thirty. Tacos came out good and we almost polished off two pounds of meat, a bit of a surprise. Sean is going on a cruise for the next week, so the three of us sat and watched Guardians of the Galaxy. Sean left about 9 Pm to get home to leave the next day. Sean left on Thursday. On Saturday we go to the movies. The girls join us. Teri thinks it would be fun to take a gummy before the movie. I’m the driver, so I don’t. Plus that crap doesn’t do anything to me except make me uptight these days. I remind Teri to take only a half. The other half?? I guess you’ll never know. I’ve been asked not to say. It’s an eight O’Clock movie. I’ve been invited to go to a bar with the girls after the movie. Most nights I would not be in the mood to go. On the way to drop off Nancy and head home. Teri gets a little silly. I’m not supposed to tell anyone what she’s done because not everyone knows about it. At home I ask Teri if she is okay for me to go with the girls. She says she is fine. It’s about 11 PM as we head out. I’m thinking it’ll be a short night. The way Nastia talks about The Last Chance Saloon, it doesn’t stay open late. We walk in and the bartender walks around from the bar and gives Nastia a big hug as she asks him how he is and what happened to him to keep him out of work.

Nastia has this ability to make anyone she wants be her best friend. She did it with the women at the pizza palor and now Joe, the bartender at the Last Chance Saloon.Nastia and I get seats at the bar, Elena prefers a table close by, but far enough away to talk to her boyfriend, Matt. Nastia and I talk about this and that while Elena talks to Matt. I order a screwdriver, Nastia tastes it and orders Vodka and Pineapple juice after giving a face telling me she doesn’t like it.

Nastia asks me if I’d like to play pool. I haven’t played pool in about as long as I haven’t hung around in bars, I say yes. Nastia grabs a dollar and goes over to the table. Like the price of drinks, the price of playing pool has gone up since I’ve played. Back at the West Nyack Inn, playing pool was 50 cents and drinks like I ordered were not $7.00. We play a game and I do well, but forget to call the eight ball and sink the cue ball also, so I lose. A guy sitting at the bar talking to Nastia offers to play two on two. We played a couple of games. Elena started the night not drinking anything but the Mountain Dew she bought with her. She asks what I’m drinking and wants one. After one taste she is pouring Mountain Dew into it saying it is not that good, better with Mountain Dew in it. She switches to what looks like cranberry juice.

It’s now after one, quickly heading toward two. Nastia has ordered another drink. To me she seems like she has had too much. Whenever she goes up to play pool, I drink some of it. She finally notices it. The bartender, whose name is also Joe and the barfly playing with us, say they know nothing about it. Before drinking most of her drink I’d had four screwdrivers and I don’t drink alot at one sitting any more. I know it is time to leave when no one can sink a ball on the table. Plus the four of us and the bartender are the only ones there. We leave. I have my arm around Nastia. She is either really drunk or acting. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to tell. She is a small person and I imagine it doesn’t take much to get her drunk. We walk up the street talking. Elena tells me as we get closer we have to follow her into the house because she used to sneak out late at night to go visit Matt at the park. Nastia tells Elena she told me that story already and I know. The truck driver's mouth in Elena comes out and she has a few choice words for her sister.

When we reach the property, Nastia makes a production of climbing the little hill on the north lot going down on her hands and feet to climb it. I help her up the slight incline because that is who I am and it’s also how some women, Nastia, have me twisted around their finger. We go quietly through the side gate and attempt to open the back door. We are being very quiet. The door creaks a little, but no Mesha barking. I don’t know what sets the dog off, but she starts barking once we are inside. Elena and Nastia head upstairs, still trying to be quiet, I go down to the basement to change. Nastia wanders down to the cellar to say good night to me. I hug her and suddenly she goes limp in my arms. I’m wondering if she is ok. I lean in and put an ear next to her nose to hear if she is breathing. She quietly is breathing. I straighten up and wonder where to go from here, when she gives out a sudden gasp, surprising me. I ask quickly if she is ok. I don’t think she realized she fell asleep or passed out. Whatever it was, I doubt she remembers it. She goes up and I follow just a few minutes before the clock touches two AM. I crawl into bed, Teri doesn’t move. I shut off theTV and for me, the odd night out drinking with my daughters ends. Will I do it again, maybe, I didn’t think I’d do it this night.