pinot

i reach the corner of the street and turn left down a dark, dirt path. yes, the spooky branches and trees are here as well...but, i've made this walk so much that they aren't scary anymore.

update, they're comforting. and, i reach a level of excitement that isn't...like too, excited? ya know? it's the right amount to at least be motivated.

my most interesting friendship is located here.

pushing past the trees and dark canopies, i thank my stars that a trail is this accessible to me. i love hiking, but visiting at night takes a different set of ovaries...those are equal to balls, right?

the trail isn't steep in the beginning, which works out for my tired ass because i hook another left before the elevation randomly gets real.

after a few more paces down a small man made path, i reach a stone bench.

how do i know it's there? in the pitch black?

aside from my flashlight, (yes actual flashlight because i'm a millennial with common sense) the trees in the sky part perfectly around this bench.

the grassy, hidden area is like a lobby in the woods. the bench is where we wait to be summoned and the...log across from it is reception. i don't know. and it's all drenched in moonlight. we're just missing the stack of magazines.

i take a seat on the bench.

i put my flashlight away.

i take a deep breathe.

and, i wait.

...

i check my watch and clock the twenty-five minutes thats passed, striking 12:44am.

i feel a chill followed by some warm wind and i take another deep breath.

that's the...low-level excitement.

a figure appears almost like a hologram "Hey, Merlot. Beautiful night."

"You're 27 minutes late!"

"Since when do you care!?"

am i really about to start an argument over punctuality? it wasn't necessarily a task to get here as the trail is a block from the crib.

which leaves me to wonder why i don't make this trip more often.

"How have you been, friend? There's trouble, huh?"

"I guess that is when i come to visit." we chuckle. but, it's okay. he has wayyyy less problems than i do.

"I scared a woman today at my granddaughters' basketball game," he says.

we laugh and i wave him off, "Pleeeease share."

"Okay, so I was using the facilities and was certain I was in the 'mens' room and a woman came out of a stall after I left a sink full of dirty water."

"Ohhhhh...she knows things..."

"Yea. I'm lucky I didn't leave a cold spot."

"You know bathrooms are gender-neutral now."

"And that is perfectly fine."

we chuckle again.

we're quiet.

...

"How is she?", i ask.

"She's got a mean triple threat."

"You mean she hoards the ball?"

"Tomato, tomatoe."

...

i officially met him at work. he was a co-worker actually. he'd been at the liquor shop for years. he was basically management.

before i added the position to my couple of positions, i was a regular customer as he always kept an interesting wine in stock and...i felt that i was becoming a wine snob.

on my first day he identified me out as one of his regulars. and, he told me my favorite merlot.

in that moment, i was embarrassed for one, but then realized how i had been wrapped up in my own world.

"Well hell, call me Merlot." i said.

"Pinot's are my favorite," he said.

"Well that is who you shall be."

And for the next four years, we had begun a loose mentorship and friendship.

until two years ago...

"When you died, Pinot..."

He lays a transparent hand on my shoulder and takes a seat next to me.

"I thought my most random and neutral connection was gone." he laughs at me. "I thought that I would have nobody to enjoy...nothing with. Tasting new wines and selling them. Because that's joy in a bottle!" i take a look at him and his beaming smile and face glowing in the moonlight. "But, here we are!"

"But, here we are, friend."

We shake hands.

he inquires, "did you stroll or stomp here?"

i laugh.

"actually both!" i say, "it was too much all at once today and i want good vibes before bed."

"I'm glad the moon was bright tonight."

"Yea me too. So update me on ghost life this week."

"Oh you know…still working on my astral body."