Travel Reference
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Also, who wants to have to schlep into the bedroom to go downstairs, particularly
if someone else is having a private moment in there—sleeping, playing Tiddlywinks, or
whatever.
Finally, and most conclusively, the bedroom, which was air conditioned, was positioned
squarely above the carport, which wasn't.
We stared at each other in disbelief. Maybe the two floors weren't meant to connect.
Maybe the twain simply weren't intended to meet.
I broke out the cocktail shaker.
☼ ☼ ☼
Alcohol, I've discovered, can sometimes un-stop even the most log-jammed brain. The first
time I discovered this was when I moved to D.C. in the summer of 1994.
I had bought a new bed for myself, a large, metal, canopied contraption with at least
forty or fifty parts. I laid out the components on the floor of my new apartment and stared at
them in rapt silence for at least a half-hour before it occurred to me that I was never going
to get this thing put together without some sort of mental lubrication.
A gear was stuck in my brain, and it needed oil.
Or vodka.
I downed a couple of stiff drinks and soon a task that had appeared impossible seemed
not only possible but embarrassingly simple.
The bed almost constructed itself, which was a good thing since I was so sloshed I col-
lapsed into it the minute I was done.
Meanwhile, back in where-to-put-the-staircase land, we sipped our cocktails and waited
for a visitation from the Staircase Muse, who stubbornly resisted our call.
Michael sat quietly on the sofa nearby.
“How about connecting the balconies?” he asked in his most casual voice.
This is one of the things about Michael. He never acts excited or screams
Eureka!
when
he's solved a difficult problem.
He just solves it and tells you the answer.
My mind raced.
Of course
.
We could put the staircase in the front corner of the balcony, near the driveway, facing
the water. Nothing was happening in that corner of the balcony anyway. And just think of
the ocean views as you went up and down.
Good old vodka.
The next time you have a problem, give it a try.
☼ ☼ ☼
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