| SaintsBro |
12-20-2011 04:30 PM |
After the season is over, they will need to solve this the old-fashioned way.
Loomis, Rita, and Drew: the three of them go out to dinner at Galatoire's. Sazeracs. After dinner, before coffee, ask waiter for some pencils. Loomis discreetly writes a number on a coctail napkin in pencil and sloooowly slides it across the table to Drew. Drew looks at it, raising an eyebrow; he picks up a pencil, writes down another number next to it, folds the napkin and silently slides it back across the table. Loomis peels up the corner of the napkin, just barely, and peeks at the number. He slides it over to Rita Benson, who turns up its edge and looks down at the napkin cooly. She is wearing a big floppy Southern belle type hat, with a big brim that hides her face from Drew. Drew leans on the table and folds his hands in front of his nose like a steeple, while Loomis does some quick math calculations right there on the white linen tablecloth, scribbling wildly with the pencil, all over the tablecloth. Loomis is jotting down figures, columns, rows of numbers, adding and calculating them, all over his side of the tablecloth, with the butter dish and water pitcher discreetly blocking Drew's view of the numbers. Loomis sips on his Sazerac as he calculates on the tablecloth. Nobody at the table says a word.
The waiter tries to bring out the coffee, but Rita waves him away. Then Loomis takes another coctail napkin, writes down another number, circles it and turns the napkin so the number faces Rita. She folds it over once, pressing down with her butter knife to give it an extra sharp crease, and slides the folded napkin back across the tablecloth to Drew. Drew slides it back without even looking at it. Drew puts his pencil down, glances across the table at the other napkin where he wrote his last number down, and makes that "game face" of his. Someone orders more Sazeracs for everybody. Loomis takes his pencil, taps it on the tablecloth a few times, looks at Rita. She bites her lip and nods. Loomis writes down another new number, and slowly slides the napkin back over to Drew, one more time. This time Drew looks down at the napkin; he turns up the corner, studies the number written there for a moment. Then he smiles, extends his hand to shake with Loomis and Rita, carefully folds up the napkin and delicately puts it into his inside front jacket pocket. Drew snags a passing waiter and asks for coffee, banana bread pudding for the table, and tells the waiter that tonight's check can be put on Ms. Benson's tab, but he will definitely be back dining on his own tab starting next week.
DONE.
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