The shower felt so good that I didn’t want to get out, so I didn’t get out. Instead, I thought about what I was going to wear. It would start cooling off fast, and seventy degrees would feel pretty cold.
I knew what I was going to wear by the time I was drying off from my shower. I had a new pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt from Banana Republic that looked dressy but also fun. Thankfully, I also brought my favorite leather jacket, which still looked newish, to keep me warm.
I got out of the army on October 31st, 1993. I went to the mall in Monterey that night. I was wearing only a t-shirt and jeans, and it was cold and damp out. I went into Wilson’s Leather and saw the coat right away.
It was a heavy brown leather coat with a little bit of green trim. I think the size was XXL. I checked the price and sure enough it was the most expensive coat in the store. To top it off, all the prices were sky high because it was winter, but I was too stupid to think about that part. A guy I knew from the army was working there, and he too had just recently gotten out. I talked to him, and I was too stupid to try to get a discount from him. I paid full price for the coat—something like $400. That was a ton of money back then.
I put my new coat on and went to my girlfriend’s condo, which also happened to be where I was going to live. I had some marijuana with me. I had never smoked it before, so Halloween 1993 was my first time. We had sex on it, and I was so happy and so glad to be out of the goddam army, and I kept forgetting who the woman was because I was so stoned.
That was a good girlfriend. She was a nurse and she liked to fuck a lot and she was really nice and easy to get along with. She just went along with whatever I said, most of the time.
My girlfriend, the one I have now, was ready. She looked good, but her dress was a weird pattern. I thought the dress was kind of a downer, if you ask me. I’m the one who has to look at her clothes, so why don’t I get to pick them out? How screwed up the world really is.