Border Crossings
9 The Rest of the Story
21 August 2016
A-RI.
Our time together was too short. Not to mention the fact that you spent more time writing about sex than having sex with me. But thank you for letting me read this in advance. I knew you were having more fun on that trip than you were letting on.
I cried for hours over Karin. Do you think she’ll ever come to America? Damn it, man, you need to win a lottery so you can just send for her and bring her mother and daughter and take care of them. Why doesn’t it work that way?
I won’t ask you to take care of me, Ari. I promise that when we’re together, I’ll support myself. I don’t know what you did to me, but every future I can imagine for myself has you in it.
And now you’re on your way to Californication and I’m still here in Montana for two more years! Can I join you for the summer next year? At least for the time in Wisconsin when you meet up with Ani Mai? You sure picked some good partners on this trip—though I suspect Ani Mai had picked you before you even got there. Don’t you think it’s strange that a guy who never showed up was supposed to have looked so much like you? Did you ever ask what her relationship to Ito was? I bet there’s more there than you know.
And a movie with Anastasia in Wyoming? You know what that will be about. It just seemed to me that the two of you needed one more person to operate the camera while you acted out the rest of the fantasy. Have you looked at the movie she gave you yet? I know you’ve been saving it, but don’t let all her hard work go to waste. You know if I’d found it while I was there, I’d have watched it. You hid it too good.
Your whole life has been a trip, Ari. Keep telling us the stories and making me part of them.
You know how much I love you.
Alice
I’VE BEEN HAVING FUN reliving the adventures I had on my trip around the world. I suppose Alice is right and I should keep writing about my travels. If my editors can stand more of the fantastic and unbelievable ‘life and times of Aroslav,’ maybe I’ll start bending Devon’s ear.
Right now, however, it’s time to put some ribs on the grill and mix a drink for Alice and me. Yeah. Alice is here with me for solstice. Seems like she always wants the last word these days, though. Guess the drinks will wait while she curls up in my lap with the computer. She wants to read this last chapter and give it her stamp of approval. God, I love her.
Dear Readers,
I got to read this before anyone else did. It was a little over the top, but it was fun. Hope you had as much fun reading it as I did.
I just wanted to say something. Some people think Ari made all this stuff up. Well, some of it. But there’s a lot of truth in it, too. There are a lot of people in this story and in US Highways and American Backroads who he loved, and still does. There’s a lot more about his life that he’s told me and sanitized for you. And, there are some huge fucking lies.
Face it. Aroslav lies for a living. And he’s not even in politics. It’s called writing fiction. But he believes the lies and they are woven so intimately with what really happened that he can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction. Some of the most bizarre things he’s told me about, I’ve verified actually happened. Who can tell the difference? Ari’s not so bad.
So, let me just say that I’m at least as real as Old Man with a Pen’s Figment. I mean, Figment never fucks David. That’s got to count for something. And Ari even, finally, wrote me into LNDtH2. You’ll have to figure out who I am, but you probably already know enough about me to tell.
I don’t know what the future holds for Ari and me. Or if it holds anything. I’m heading back to school soon and maybe I’ll find the love of my life like Angie did. I have a feeling that even if I do, I’ll still be here with Ari in some way or another. As he says, we may not always be lovers, but we’ll always be lovers now. Watch to see if I show up in a future story.
And if you are coming through Montana, stop at Roxie’s Foxes and I’ll give you a two-for-one if you can tell me which character I became. Strictly hands-off, though. And don’t expect any help from Ari. I’m still his little secret. And he needs to get back on the road.
Kisses,
Alice
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
