So, I drove over to the corner of Utah Street and Fairfax Drive in Ballston on a special mission- an epilogue, if you will. And even if you won’t.

The destination was the place formerly known as Willow. The doors were open, and there were no lights on. Boxes filed with things to be moved were all over, and the contrast with the happy loud place it had been the night before was stark.

Tracy and Kate and Deborah and Heather were there, getting the process going. I got hugs from them all in the somber space.

(Frankie, Holly and Heather on Saturday night. What a hoot!)

Heather helped me select two of the sturdier bar stools, which over the years had been home to the cast of characters: Mac Showers, Old Jim, all the Johns- with and without, the Mikes, the JPeters, the Rays, TLB, Jamie and all the rest. All of us had been in all the seats multiple times as they moved up and down the bar. So this was something special, a memory of drinks and the people who had occupied them.

It was all over but the shouting. I loaded them into the Panzer and prepared to take them down to the farm, where they will be placed at the breakfast counter as a permanent exhibit.

It won’t be the last time I write about Willow, but it is the last time I will use the present tense when I do so.

For the historical record, I will see if someone caught my tumble from the top of the bar as I tried to get out of Tracy’s turn in the limelight Saturday. The fall was a real crowd pleaser! Heather had part of it, and I understand Frankie has the rest, unvarnished and highly embarrassing, which is the only way I would like it to be remembered.

So that is it. Done, complete. Old Jim and Chanteuse Mary will depart for Las Vegas this week, and the now-dispersed circle will be smaller.

Pool demolition will start shortly- they are advising those of us on the first floor to prepare to batten down the hatches for dust and debris and not to use our patio doors. This will really put the end of the season in perspective. I am still curious about how to fill the hours between five and seven, though I am sure something will emerge over time.

It was a grand run, and if during this coming splendid Fall deep in the country, the urge hits me to pour a cocktail and sit at the breakfast bar in one of those stools and look over, imagining Jasper on the other side, and Jim at the one next to me.

It was a grand run. I am hoping what is next is just as good. It will certainly be different, but there are things that will always remind me of Willow .

(Jasper behind the place that Mac Showers used to sit at the Willow bar).

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotrra.com
Twitter: @jayare303