An Explanation

Alistair, Dan, John, and Hal Holiday

An explanation, of sorts, is in order. The more I write, the closer I get to having something of a narrative weaving through the snapshots of half-fictional events and people. As this is a blog and not a cheaply printed paperback (and if any of this is ever discussed in an English class, I’d like to have my intentions known instead of guessed at by middle-aged men and pre-pubescent pupils), I feel like I can bring you into the backroom and show you around. These stories spring from an idea I had for a book, the novelization of my college years. The title, “The Layabouts.”

What is a layabout, you might ask? Dan describes it as this:

“We were, in that second, all that we would ever be. Dreamers, liars, artists, and layabouts. We spoke of our great accomplishments yet to be had, and of children and wives and parties and tragedies. The future was boiling beneath our hopes, stewing for that moment when it would burst from below, ejecting us into reality, where we would either ferment into greatness or spoil into ruin. Until that day, all we could do is sit on a couch and talk. Talk about the great unknowns, as our potential slowly formed into a sour mix of kinetic energy and heat loss.

We watched life pass by, and did nothing to hail the taxi that would give chase.”

Dramatis Personae

Dan Brecon – Our faithful narrator. He is a manic depressive, alcoholic journalist. His confused belief structure borrows heavily from Catholicism, his haphazard encounters with women, Bokononism, and hedonism.

John Fairbanks - An artistic philosophe. If Dan were to star in a buddy cop movie, John would be riding shotgun. Dan has this to say about him:

“ Along the way, we stopped at a famous diner, the Barnswallow, where we found our cohort and fellow layabout, John Fairbanks slowly sipping at his third or fourth cup of diner-strength coffee.His look was the beat sort, the kind you would think you might see (but never actually saw) artists sporting. Ripped jeans splattered with paint, mussed up hair, and a shirt bearing some abstract illustration.

He wasn’t the type that did that sort of thing on purpose. Paint fell on jeans, hair got messed up, and he couldn’t help but draw on his shirts. Life was a canvas.”

Lewis Bailey – A fellow traveler. Lewis is a (sometimes reluctant) companion on Dan’s adventures. He plays the guitar, loves Space, and is the reincarnation of an 18th century portraiteer.

I first met Lewis Bailey during a frisbee golf class at the beginning of my junior year at the university. He was a tall, blond, lanky kid from southern California, who smiled broadly at anything mildly amusing.

Al Dunne – Full name: Alistair Bernard Norman Ferdinand Dunne Jr. Dan has this to say about this layabout:

If there was a story behind that name, I’d never heard it or bothered to ask. We just called him Al. He was the most recent addition to our house, renting the small room in the back.

He was the type of person I only got to understand while sitting in front of a television, sipping whiskey on a Tuesday night.

Sarah - One of many Sarahs. Dan has never dated a girl that wasn’t named Sarah. Every woman he has ever kissed, touched or fucked bears some version of that name. More on that later.

Grace Nicholson – Grace lived across the hall from Dan during their freshman year. Their friendship isn’t what you might call “regular,” as they go months without talking to each other, but if one ever needs a favor (usually Dan), the other doesn’t hesitate to lend a hand.

Blue, Tom Tennant, Will Montserrat, Theodore “Ed” Fredrickson, Hal Holiday, etc. – Our heroes’ family of friends and comrades.

The Scene

Buried in the snow, soot, and sadness of a dying Upstate New York factory town, a group of young men and women balance passions and reality as they hide from the depressing job market in the hallowed halls of academia.

Patches O’Rourke – The local watering hole. As Dan puts it, “The least Irish pub I’d ever been to.” It is owned by Italians and frequented by at least one girl named Sarah.

The Barnswallow – A small out of the way diner, a few hours from where our heroes live. It is a popular stop-over for truck drivers and artists alike.

Wake Up and Be Somebody – A coffee shop/bar that operates as a front for the mafia. Dan and John Fairbanks stop in every Friday to grab a beer and write a cartoon.

The Gin Mill – A sports bar down the road from Dan and Al’s house. They go every Wednesday to drink down their sorrows at $2.75 a pint.

Lake Ontario Polytechnic Institute – Our heroes’ Alma mater, LOPI is set in the barren suburbs of a dying city in Upstate New York. Like most polytechnic schools, LOPI suffers from an overabundance of males, which makes our heroes’ quest for meaningful female companionship mildly difficult.

I’ll add more to this list as things become a little more flushed out.