Acre Under a Green Sky

There was a moment during the course of the picnic that I couldn't share with my father or anyone else for that matter. It happened late in the day. Luka was sitting in a canvas chair away from the others. He was languidly nursing a drink, when I came up beside him.

Without looking at me, he said, "Never talk to the girl crying at the bar."

I followed his gaze across the yard to where Gwen and my mother were sitting huddled together in deep conversation. Suddenly, my mother jumped to her feet and walked away from Gwen as if from an insult. Gwen extended her hand to my mother, but it was no use. My mother was already halfway to the kitchen, and her ass was smokin'.

"Oh shit!" Luka said, leaving his chair to attend to my mother.

I sat in Luka's chair and watched Gwen for some time with Luka's words echoing in my ears: "Never talk to the girl crying at the bar." I'd heard it many times before. It was a reference to their first meeting. But it had never resonated like it did that day in their back yard with Gwen looking so forlorn staring down into her coffee mug. I could see how a man would be drawn to comfort her.

Luka was young then, and Gwen hadn't yet taken to piling her lush brown hair on top of her head. Even then he was a regular at the Royal Grill. One night, a beautiful young woman came in alone and sat about midway down the bar with her shots and beer. She was crying quietly; oblivious to the fun going on all around her. Luka couldn't keep his eyes off her. It was love at first sight. He left his cherished spot at the bar, and joined Gwen. They sat quietly talking over their drinks all that night. They left the bar together, and the next night Gwen took the stool next to Luka. It was their place at the bar from that night on. They married three months later.

But why was Gwen crying so broken-heartedly that night? That was a story we were never allowed to hear, except that it involved a love affair gone bad. At any rate, from that day on, whenever Luka was mystified by Gwen's behavior or by women in general, he would say, "Never talk to the girl crying at the bar."