WE GATHER TOGETHER by Edward L. Woodyard

We Gather Together Chapter Fifty-Eight

Scott McCulloch wiped the condensation from the inside of the windshield with the back of his right hand. The snow was swirling around the car as it went east on I-80. Scott reached past Maya, who had put in her ear buds and begun a play list on her cell phone. He needed to get a clean rag from the glove compartment.

He remembered when he used to keep a jar of peanut butter in there in order to scoop two fingers worth into his mouth when a cop pulled him over, knowing that the peanut butter would disguise any breath suspiciously tainted with alcohol. However, now in the glove compartment were CDs by Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Gin Blossoms, Phish, Black-Eyed Peas, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, and Genesis.

Scott was surprised to see the CDs still in the glove compartment. He had forgotten to take them out. Most of the CDs were Wendy's. Born to Run was there because she identified with the same-named girl in the title song – and how Scott had quoted from it when they were married. She had loved Gin Blossoms and two songs in particular, "I Found Out About You" and "Til I Hear It from You." However, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed were his; as far as Scott was concerned, "Gimme Shelter" was the greatest rock song ever recorded, thanks to Merry Clayton and "the note." Also his were the Led Zeppelin CDs which always made him think of Drew and how the two of them would perform their Led Zep routine at hockey dinners in high school and later at fraternity parties in college, Drew miming Jimmy Page and Scott mouthing Robert Plant; the only song they refused to do was "Stairway to Heaven" since all the hockey players and fraternity brothers did that one.

Of all the CDs in the glove compartment, "Invisible Touch" by Genesis may have meant the most to him and Wendy. They had met dancing to it – in a deli.

Scott had quit his first job in San Francisco at the copy shop south of Market, joined A.A. while his mother was there, and had just opened an intaglio print shop in the Marina District, near his new apartment. Feeling the best he had felt about himself in years, he went to a local deli to get himself a ham and swiss on rye. It was noon and the deli market was crowded with customers when "Invisible Touch" emanated from a speaker in the ceiling. It was a favorite of Scott's, so he began smiling and tapping his Nikes to its infectious beat.

Behind him in line was a young woman in light blue exercise clothes, with her sandy blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, wanting to pay for a bottle of mango juice. She noticed a preppy-looking guy in front of her with curly reddish hair, a dark blue polo shirt and pleated khakis who was reacting to the driving rhythm of the song coming from the ceiling as she and several customers sang along with Phil Collins and Genesis. When she saw Scott start to sway his knees and move his hips, she grabbed his right hand and began dancing with him. They smiled wide at each other and decided to let whatever happened happen. They sang so forcefully to each other that they caught the attention of a counterman who turned up the volume in the ceiling speakers, causing Scott and the mysterious woman to lock eyes, shake their shoulders at each other and kick up their feet as they circled the floor in front of the display case with the prepared foods, cheeses and deli meats.

Scott then grasped this mysterious woman by the waist and swung her under his arm, twirling her twice, as other customers stepped back to let the two of them dance. When the song ended, the young woman in the light blue exercise clothes paid for her drink and smiled at Scott as she left the deli. While he never thought he'd ever see her again, he knew that whoever she was, they had just shared a lasting memory.

What Scott didn't know was that he would see her again that night at a meeting. He learned her name when she said, "Hi. I'm Wendy. And I'm an alcoholic."

She then waited for four more introductions to learn whom he was, "My name is Scott. And I'm an alcoholic."

As far as the two of them were concerned, they had met in line at a deli where they danced, not at a meeting when they confessed. It may not have been love at first sight, but it sure was at second sight.

Scott closed the glove compartment of the Bimmer. The snow in the Wyoming Rockies was getting heavier and accumulating on the road. Driving in and out of the mountains, Scott thought they were either below the snow or right in the middle of it. A WYDOT plow passed the Bimmer in the opposite direction, spraying thick slush into its lane. As Scott started to wipe condensation from the inside of his windshield, Maya took the rag from him and cleared the fog from the glass. "I thought the defroster could use some help," she said.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."