Dreams are nothing more than wishes, and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true

I got to visit with "N" yesterday. She has been going through rehab and is living in a half way house in Worcester. She's there during the week and leaves on the weekends. Yesterday, Spira picked her up and brought her to Somerville. I met up with them in the afternoon at Spira's apartment. It was good seeing N; she looked healthy and was in good spirits.

Spira was going to drive her to her mom's place in Newburyport and N asked if I'd like to come along for the ride. I told her I'd be honored to, and N replied that we could make the drive naked. We all laughed and she told us that she had done that before when she was in her late teens and regaled us with the story. It bears repeating.

She had been in a car drinking with a few male friends behind a stadium one night. One of them suggested they take their clothes off and, thick with drink, they all did, thinking it was a brilliant idea. They were enjoying their nakedness when they saw someone staggering out of the woods towards the car.

When the figure got close, they saw that it was a woman with torn clothes and a bleeding mouth. In a panic, she told them she had just been raped by four guys in a van and barely escaped. As she told them her story, she realized that everyone was naked. She must have wondered, coming upon a stray car filled with three guys and one girl, and all of them nude, whether she had left one rape scene for another.

N ended up being a witness in the subsequent trial. It wasn't to be a smooth affair. One of the guys who was in the car with N had told the police an entirely different break down of events than N witnessed. When she asked him why he lied, he told her that the girl who got raped deserved it because she was a prostitute. He became the star witness for the defense.

To complicate matters even further, this guy's uncle happened to be one of the cops who investigated the rape. And both of them were friendly with the defendants, having grown up in the same town. Consequently, N was subjected to harassment by her so-called friend, his uncle, and numerous other friends of the defendants.

In the end, N stuck to her story and the accused each received a four year sentence. They got off easy. When they got of jail, N had the misfortune of running into a couple of them when she was waiting tables at a restaurant in a nearby town. They bullied and threatened her on more than one occasion.

Thinking back on the experience, N was amazed at how convoluted and bizarre the whole affair was. She concluded the story by telling us that the fact that she was in a car full of naked people was brought up by one the defense attorneys. And because the story had been picked up by the national media, the whole country, she laughed, knew about it.

N has led a very interesting life.

We drove her to mom's, said our goodbyes, and later, back at Spira's place, we talked for a bit before Spira kept nodding off during one of my riveting monologues. As she prepared for bed we made plans to meet up in the morning for a run.

I ended up staying up mega late reading from Top of the World, Peter May's new tome about the Celtic's improbable and triumphant season last year. I had bought the book earlier in the day and by the time I called it a night, I was almost finished reading it. Great book!

Daylight savings was my friend and gave me an extra hour to sleep this morning. After breakfast, I surfed the net for a bit over coffee and then, after finding out from Spira that she was going to get some groceries before our run, I did some laundry and started cleaning my room.

Our run was relaxed. I was energetic and really wanted to push it, but Spira wasn't feeling up to it. I ended up at various intervals running ahead and then back-tracking to Spira. This was a good compromise: I was able to add some vigor to the run while still managing to spend most of it with Spira, at her preferred pace. It's good having a running partner. We plan on doing it again in a couple of days.

I've noticed that whenever Spira introduces me to someone new, they'll always say something like "Oh, you're that Kevin! I've heard a lot about you." And often, when I'm present, she'll speak glowingly about me to whomever we're with. Sometimes it's a little embarrassing, but only because I don't want them to think I'm a cocky son-0f-a-bitch without any modesty, who not only only agrees with these sentiments, but perhaps even put Spira up to expressing them. But that's just me being squirmy. In the end, it illustrates to me what a good friend Spira is. The fact that, in spite of my shortcomings, she speaks of me with pride and affection, means a lot. So much, in fact, I have trouble putting it into words. I love her. Those three will have to suffice.

I had intended to set some goals today. Some short term, some long. I was set to put these goals into writing, but I never got around to it. I will, though, just not sure when. I was productive today, though, so I don't feel as if I was useless layabout.

With that, I'm signing off. I'm going to watch Errol Morris' Gates of Heaven, a documentary about people's attachments to their pets, or The Trials of Henry Kissinger. We'll see which one gets the call.