THE SPINNER©

By Richard A. Falb

 

I am writing this down late at night. I intend to leave it in a place it cannot be missed, if someone comes to my apartment to look for me. I will leave the spinner with this material. I do not know where I will be later tonight or tomorrow. I am sure it will not be here. But let me tell you the story.

It started with a simple spinner. A metal spinner shaped like a hand so constructed it could spin like the hand of a compass. A spinner designed to help you decide who would pay for a cup of coffee, a beer or a round of drinks.

Let me set the stage, give you some background. We were a group of friends who met every other night at a small hotel bar. It was in a medium sized Midwestern City. The hotel was downtown. It had been there for quite a long time. We skipped Sunday. Not because we were religious, nor because the bar was closed. We just decided not to get together that day.

There were eight guys, all in our late twenties. A rather motley crew, you might say. From all walks of life originally. We had been through college together. Although not in the same areas of study, we somehow gravitated together, during our college years. We'd meet in our favorite coffeehouse or bar just to talk. It was a way to let off steam and get away from our studies.

Although we went our separate ways after we graduated, we kept in touch. Somehow, after about five years, we all ended up in this City. It had been strictly by happenstance. We came from different parts of the country. We all came here to work for different companies.

A couple of us happened to meet at a local conference. We would meet irregularly just to keep in touch. As time went on one of us would meet another of the old group. Within a short period of time, we found out we were all here. We just gravitated back together again. None of us were seriously dating at the time. We started meeting for a few beers after work, a couple of months ago. It was like old times. We got to let off steam with old friends. It was a relief from our various work-a-day routines.

A while ago, I had picked up a spinner that was a metal hand. It could be spun to see who would pay for the drinks. I saw it in this funny little junk type shop I stumbled onto, just wandering about the downtown area, one day. The owner had it sitting on the counter and was idly spinning it when I happened to walk in. It kind of intrigued me. When I left the shop, after browsing around, I asked the owner if it was for sale. He said it was so I bought it. I really don't know why I bought it. I thought it was different.

I forgot about it until this particular night. I decided to bring it along.

"Hey," I told the guys, "I've got this interesting looking spinner. We can use it to decide who is going to buy the last round before we leave." Everyone paid for their own drinks throughout the night. For some reason, we gambled to see who would pay for the last round.

"Sounds like a great idea to me. Leave it up to chance," said John.

"You're sure you haven't got it rigged not to point to you?" questioned James with a laugh. The group decided it actually did sound like an interesting idea. That night, for the last round, we twirled the spinner. It pointed to John.

With a laugh and the comment, "Me and my big mouth," he paid up.

"You noticed it didn't point to Greg," remarked James. Everyone accusingly said yeah, yeah we noticed. After finishing our drinks, we all headed for our apartments.

This happened to be a Friday. We weren't meeting again until Monday night. Monday night came, and we all drifted in as usual as soon as we could get away from work. All, that is except John. We waited for a while expecting him to show up. He didn't.

"Maybe he was ticked that he lost the spin for the drinks Friday?" Charlie said.

"Naw," said James, "He wasn't like that. He probably had to go out of town and forgot to mention it."

No one ever checked up on anyone else. We just got together. We kind of forgot about the fact that John hadn't shown up.

That night we again twirled the spinner for the last round. It ended up pointing to James.

He laughed as he paid for the round. "Well you can count on me not disappearing before Wednesday night. I want to recoup my losses," James told us all.

"Maybe can arrange to get Greg this time," laughed Charlie.

Tuesday night, shortly after I arrived home from work, I got a call from Frank. "I tried to call John at work," he told me, "and I couldn't get him. I just called his apartment and no one answered." Frank sounded worried for some reason.

"Well," I said not feeling this was anything to worry about, "We'll ask the rest of the guys tomorrow night to see if they have heard from John." I didn't know why Frank would be worried. Our getting together had been kind of impromptu. No one ever said or even implied they would be there every night.

Wednesday night came around and we drifted into the bar one or two at a time. John, was not there tonight and neither was James. That really only got passing notice, at this time.

"James must have forgot he was going to recoup his losses," commented Chuck.

"Maybe he maneuvered a heavy date," said Tom.

"Are you kidding. He freezes whenever a pretty girl comes near," said Frank.

"Maybe the pretty girl liked shy guys and maneuvered James into going out with her," observed Chuck.

"I should be so lucky," said Tom.

"Who would ever think you were shy, Tom," I said laughingly. No one said anything about John. We kind of forgot about John and James after that. Although everyone had managed to show up until this, we knew we couldn't count on this to happen all of the time.

When the time came for the last round, Chuck said, "Let's have someone else twirl the spinner. Maybe we can catch Greg with the check."

"Be my guest," I said pushing the spinner toward Chuck. He passed it on to Tom, who with a shrug of his shoulders twirled the spinner. It pointed to Chuck. He looked disgustedly at Tom. Then he grinned.

"Well so much for trying to nail Greg with the check," Chuck said as he paid the bill for the last round. We all headed for home having enjoyed this evening with these friends.

Chuck said, "See you Friday night. I won't say I want to recoup my losses," he added with a laugh. "I'll just see if Friday brings any more interesting possibilities."

"You mean there could be more interesting possibilities than meeting with us?" Frank said in mock disbelief.

I was really busy, the next day and came hurrying in to the bar late.

"We thought you were going to turn up missing too," Frank remarked. "John, James and Chuck haven't shown up yet. Chuck must have come up with that more interesting possibility. I wonder if she was blonde, brunet or redhead?"

"You know I was suppose to have lunch with John yesterday. We had set it up several weeks ago," said Tom ignoring Frank's facetious comment. "I called his office and they said he hadn't come in today."

"Well that's weird," commented Marty.

We went ahead without them, half expecting that they would come in late with some lame excuse. After a while we kind of forgot about them. They never showed. The last round came and we twirled the spinner. The lucky guy was Frank. He paid up and we finished our drink and all headed for home.

"I'll give James a call in the morning," Adam said. No one else said anything about calling any of the rest of the missing ones.

Monday night rolled around and we gathered at the bar. There were only four of us. Tom, Marty, Adam and myself.

"I called James' place on Saturday but got no answer. Then I called his office this morning and they said they believed he was out-of-town," Adam told us.

Marty put on a pretend pout. "They don't like us anymore," he said. We all laughed and ordered another beer.

"Well, if we could ever attract any women, there'd be more for all of us," was Tom's comment. We kept up the usual banter, but each of us kind of wondered where the other four were. No one remembered the ones that were missing were the one's who had paid for the last round their last evening with us. It briefly occurred to me, but I dismissed the thought. As usual, we twirled the spinner for the last round. Tom was the lucky one.

"Well, easy come, easy go," he said as he paid for that last round. After we finished that last drink, we headed for our apartments. If our getting together hadn't been so informal, we might have given more thought to the missing guys. As it was we just shrugged it off.

Wednesday night we gathered as usual at the bar. Only three showed up this night.

"Boy, we're turning in to a bunch of party poopers," said Marty.

"Yeah, I hope some of the rest start showing up again," said Adam. "Can't figure out what happened to them."

That night we didn't stay so long at the bar. The spinner pointed to Marty this time. Marty paid the tab, and after we finished this last round we headed for home.

As I left I turned to Marty, "Now don't you disappear on us. We'll start wondering if we suddenly got jinxed." I started to wonder how many would show up on Friday night. I resisted trying to call any of the rest who had been missing. This gathering had always been a spontaneous thing. Everyone just showed up. We had never made it a habit to check on who was going to be there. Besides, maybe I was just a little afraid of what I might find out. I don't know why.

Unfortunately, on Friday night only Adam showed up besides me. We didn't miss the rest for part of the night because two somewhat attractive young women moved in on us. That caused us to forget about the rest at least for a while. Apparently we didn't prove that interesting company, because after a few drinks they up and left us. I gave the spinner to Adam to twirl for the last round, but it pointed at him. He gave a sigh of resignation and paid for the drinks. After we finished we again headed for our own apartments. I was going to make a comment about him not showing up and leaving me alone. I really began to wonder what was going on. In fact, that night I spent a kind of restless night. It was beginning to bug me.

Saturday, I decided to try to find that shop where I got the spinner. I searched the whole area where I thought I had found that shop. I couldn't find it. In fact, I couldn't even find a spot where it could have been located. I kind of got a momentary chilly feeling. Monday night, was I going to be the only one that showed up at that hotel bar? I even wondered if I should go there on Monday night. But, come Monday night, as was my habit, I headed for the bar right after work.

I arrived, found a table for four and ordered a beer. I sat there drinking waiting for someone else to show up. An acquaintance stopped by and had a couple of beers then moved on. I decided to twirl the spinner for my last beer, just for the heck of it. It stopped pointing to the empty seat across from me, except it wasn't empty.

"Sorry I'm so late," said John, "I just got in from out-of -town."

"Well at least you made it in time to pay for the last round," I answered indicating that the spinner was pointing to him. I found I was afraid to ask him where he had been all this time.

"So, I did," he answered, pulling out his billfold and dropping the money on the table. He didn't act as if he hadn't been there for a number of times. We finished our last drink and started to head out of the bar.

"See you Monday," John said, "Maybe some of the others will show up." He said that as if he had been coming all the time. Now I really didn't dare ask him where he had been.

I had a date for Saturday night, so I didn't think about John, suddenly reappearing, until I walked into the bar Monday night and saw John sitting at a table for four.

"I didn't know how many would show up tonight so I sat here, figuring we could move if most of the gang showed," John explained. I told him that was a good idea, because lately we didn't know how many would show. He didn't make any comment on that. Actually no one else showed, so for the last round we again twirled the spinner figuring the one in whose general direction it would point would pick up that tab. It ended up pointing at one of the empty chairs between us. Except James was sitting there.

"At least you showed up in time to pay for the last round," John told him.

"Sorry," said James as he pulled some money out of his pocket and tossed it on the table to pay for the round, "I just got in from out-of-town." He didn't act as if he had been away either.

We drank up and started to leave.

"See you Wednesday night as usual," said James. I said I'd be there.

Wednesday night came, and on the twirl of the spinner for the last round so did Chuck. Again the comment was he had just got back from out of town. He didn't make any comment about being away for a while. None of the rest seemed to think this was anything unusual. We always found a table with a few extra chairs. We always figured one of the other guys would drop in late. Friday night, Frank appeared, or I should say, reappeared with the twirl of the spinner. On Monday night, Tom did. Wednesday night it was Marty's turn, and like clockwork, Adam came in time on Friday night to pay for the last round. Like the rest he didn't act as if he had been away for a while. I wondered what Monday night would bring.

Monday night the whole group was there and it was as if nothing had ever happened. We had a great time just gabbing and relaxing after day of work. No one questioned anyone else as to why they had missed some nights. I was a little afraid to. When it came to find out who was going to pay for the last round, John took the spinner and twirled it. It came to rest pointing at me.

"Well finally, we get to make Greg pay for the last round," observed Frank. I laughed and gladly paid the tab. When we finished this last round we headed for the door.

"See you Wednesday," I told them. As I drove home, however, I wondered where I would wake up tomorrow morning. Or for that matter from now on. No one would be able to twirl the spinner to bring me back. The spinner was sitting in the seat of my car beside me.

 

 

THE END