01 01 00

wisconsin day two

Morning was a bit of an anticlimax after the previous night's party. A few of us managed to slog out of bed at a semi-reasonable hour and go to breakfast.

When we arrived at the restaurant, there were only a few furs there. They stuck us in a back room, and our harried waitress informed us that there were "only three girls working today and no dishwasher... So hold your horses!" She did give us all cute little kid's cups with the animals all over them, though.

By the time we were finishing up, the rest of the party had descended on the restaurant. We gave up our table and went back to the hotel.

I still felt strange, like I was seeing everything from a distance. Dave was just how he always was, and his kisses and touches seemed the same, but... There was something different. I think it was because we had so little time together this time, and most of that was in the company of others. Someplace in the back of my mind I knew that before too long we'd have to go our separate ways.

There's a curious phenomena called "furry inertia" that occurs whenever three or more furry fans get together in one place. As the group gets bigger, inertia sets in faster and is harder to dissipate. After breakfast inertia set in big time. We lounged in the conference room. I can't remember what we talked about.

I don't even remember how it happened, but after a while the big group from the restaurant returned and a move was made to organize a trip to the movies. This was a major undertaking. Who knows how many people, twelve or so cars, and thirty-five miles to the Big Huge Movie Complex makes for an interesting caravan. Lots of people had little two-way Motorola personal radios. We almost had enough for every car! So we caravaned our way through the Illinois Tollway, keeping our group of cars bunched together fairly well.

Chatting on the radios all the way there was far more fun than it should have been.

We had wanted to see Fantasia 2000. I was a little leery about seeing it, since my cough had arrived with a vengeance and I wasn't sure if I could sit through the entire movie without coughing. But the movie was sold out. The show after that was sold out, too. And the one after that.

So a few of us went to the nickel arcade. Video games for a nickel. What a concept! grin

Dinner, the back to the hotel - Dave and I had each other to ourselves again. But we were leaving the next day, a fact that I couldn't get out of my mind.

That strange feeling lingered.

After we decided to call it a night, Dave called the front desk for a wakeup call and we turned off the light. Then my cough attacked. I couldn't sleep, and I'm sure Dave couldn't sleep either. I took a steamy shower and downed a double dose of Nyquil, trying to quell the coughs. Eventually I slept. I dreamed about the man lying beside me.

Still Life in Words