Chip

My wife and I were already seated when Chip arrived.

"Hello, Dougie!" said Chip. I stood up at the sound of his voice.

"Dougie?" My wife looked puzzled.

"Liz," I said, "meet Chippy." A couple of men in the restaurant whirled around. Probably vice cops, I thought. "Chip, this is my wife, Liz."

Chip sat down at the circular table in the modestly elegant cafe. I sat down next to Liz. "Chip and I went to high school together. We ran cross-country and track."

"What events?" she asked.

"Distance running–3,000 meters," Chip answered.

"Really? He never told me about much about you. Said you worked on a science project together or something."

"Social studies. We did a survey on prejudice and attitudes toward the disabled." Chip laughed. "Everyone had an opinion about Beth Billips."

Liz looked blankly at me.

"Beth was this one-legged girl at our school. Lost her leg in a freak accident when she was twelve," I explained.

"Which leg?" Liz asked.

"Her right," Chip answered.

"How sad!" Liz said.

"Doug liked her–a lot. I think he felt sorry for her."

"She was very pretty," I explained.

"Yeah, Doug took this picture of her that got in the yearbook. 'Glamour shot' they call it?" Chip laughed. "I didn't like her at all. Too stuck up."

"Really?" Liz asked.

"Always wanted Doug to carry her books for her. He did too. Never complained. I think he liked doing it. He thought he was her boyfriend, didn't you, Doug?"

"I was!"

"Yeah, right. She was from a rich family, looked down on everyone. I couldn't stand her. She used Doug, the crippled bitch."

"Chip!" I said. "Where did you get that idiotic idea?"

"She used to say shit like, 'My boyfriend Doug does anything I want him to,'" Chip said, using a sissified, southern-belle type voice.

"She wasn't from the south," I said, "and she didn't talk that way."

"Maybe not around you."

We had drinks and a light lunch, and conversation wandered around to other topics, including homecoming in our junior year. "Beth was on the homecoming court that year," I said. "She had just gotten her new artificial leg. No more crutches."

"She leaned on you a lot at the dance," Chip laughed. "I think she was still a bit gimpy on the thing."

"You remember the dress she wore?" I asked.

"The backless one?" Chip snickered. "Meant she had no bra on."

"Huh-uh," I corrected him. "That was your date's dress. Beth wore that strapless ballgown."

"Oh, yeah," Chip said, smiling. "Beth had no tits. I thought it was going to fall off. She must have taped it on or something."

Liz interrupted. "Doug, could you help me take off my jacket? It's getting a bit stuffy in here."

"Sure," I said.

Liz was wearing a long, low-cut dress. I wondered how long it would be before Chip noticed.

"Nice dress, Liz. Reminds me of the one Beth wore to the Senior Ball."

"She was able to get around pretty well on her leg by that time," I said. "We won the dance competition."

"Yeah, right, but everyone else had two left feet." Chip laughed. "Beth had only one left foot–in fact, only one foot, period!"

"You know where we went after the competition?"

"You know, I don't," said Chip. "In fact, I haven't seen you since graduation. Beth either."

"Beth and I went out to her car–well, her dad's car."

"Really?" said Chip. "What did you do? Take off her clothes? Take off her leg?" Chip laughed.

"I put on a condom," I said. "It was tricky doing it for the first time. It was the first time for everything."

Liz looked at me. "The first time? You saved yourself for me? How sweet!"

"That's right, Elizabeth," I said, enunciating her name slowly.

Chip looked puzzled. "What's going on?"

"He married the crippled bitch," Liz explained. "Didn't you know?"

"And this dress is the one she wore to the Senior Ball."

"Perhaps Chip would like to pick up the check," Liz said, putting on her jacket.

"Nice seeing you, Chip," I said."You haven't changed a bit."

Chip looked around. He didn't laugh.

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