Green Couch

I got a fourth-hand green couch this afternoon. Ollie and Blaze bought a mile long sectional for the townhouse and needed to unload the divan. I’ve had my eye on it for some time. The springs are all but worn out, and there’s a nice little butt spot on one end, but it folds open into a bed which will come in handy come July. As soon as they said they were getting rid of it I put dibs on it. “Svend said he might want it back,” Ollie said. Svend was the original owner of the couch – Lord only knows whom he inherited it from. But when Svend looked at his tiny bachelor apartment, he came to his senses and passed on it. The hard part was getting it from Ollie’s to my place. We live six blocks away at most, but neither of us drive or have a truck at our disposal. I reluctantly called Bud to see if he would help me. It seems like the only time I ever call Bud is to help me move something. I called and tried to sound nonchalant, as if I were calling to catch up. Since nothing is going on in either of our lives, it didn’t take long to get to the point. “I really hate to ask this…”
“You want me to help you move again,” he groaned into the phone.
“Just a couch. It’s just a couple of blocks and I promise you won’t have to lift a thing. I really need this couch, it folds out into a bed and I have all these people coming in July and I don’t have any place to put them. If I don’t get it within the week, they’re going to put it out on the street.”
“All right. My truck is full of garbage and I need to go to the dump. Can it wait till Friday?”
“Not a problem.”
Friday rolled around. I had to cover part of Ollie’s shift at the shop so he could go to the dermatologist. By the time I got home and walked the dog, I was too tired to move a couch. Bud called late Friday night. “Is there anyway this could wait till Monday or Tuesday? I didn’t make it to the dump and I’m going to Victoria on the weekend.”
“No problem.”
“You’re not mad.”
“Not in the least.”
In the meantime Ollie had found someone else with a truck, a girl named Dot who comes into the shop regularly. Dot is this short blonde thing who works Set Deck. I didn’t know who Ollie was talking bout when he described her. I don’t know the name s of a lot of people I serve; I know them more by what they drink. Dot is a double Americano run through twice. “Dot said she would help us with the couch,” I just assumed he was referring to some big bull dyke.
Ollie warned me the couch was really heavy. I had to open the shop, which meant I had to get up at four-thirty in the morning. Ollie and I went to his place and got stoned after work, and then I took the dog for an hour-long walk when I got home. I had a half hour to sit before I had to go back to Ollie’s and get the couch.
The couch wasn’t nearly as heavy as Ollie made it out to be. The whole thing was done in less than twenty minutes. It doesn’t take up the whole place considering how big it is,but I am going to have to do some creative re-arranging. I took the couch for a test-drive, kicking up my feet and watching, “Spiderman.”

GarpinBC