I’ve only known one woman named April, and that was April Hartford, the sister of Laura Hartford who was mainly known as Arrot. April was a sweetheart, though I had only known her a few hours, I reckon, and that was 40 years ago.

I know it’s a story I had told before. Jet Watley gave me tickets to Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden. Jet wasn’t going, and my friends Mike Weinert and Arrot were heading to Manhattan to pick up April at Penn Station, which is located right below Madison Square Garden.

The plan was for the four of us to attend the circus. April made two friends on the train from New England, two freunds from Germany. She wasn’t into the circus and so we gave the tickets to some kids who really wanted to go. They offered some money but we just gave them the tickets to their surprise.

We caught the Path train back to Hoboken, and of course, we wound up at Maxwell’s. We fell into our routines and overlapping groups of friends. April proved to be quite popular, much to Arrot’s surprise. She looked radiant, and men were swarming around her.

Arrot was distressed, though, since April was only 14 years old, though she did look sophisticated and passed for being a few years older. The powers that be never found out and we quickly moved to Mike and Arrot’s basement apartment, where, after smoking some opium, we wound up asleep with limbs entwined.

One of the freunds fell asleep with his head in my lap. Nothing came of it, neither literally nor figuratively.

Now I am home. Bill is eating pasta and pesto three feet behind me. Mike just called, waking up from a nap. He implored me to help him with his phone bill, and luckily for him, I was able to since it was not that much. I almost wrote that he begged, but Mike didn’t. He asked, sounding reluctant, while I was at work and I told him I’d take care of it when I got home.

I got home a little after 6 PM, which is when his phone service was cut off. Six minutes later, it was restored. And an hour after that, he woke up from his nap and groggily called. Too sleepy for anything resembling a meaningful conversation, I told Mike to call me when he wakes up.

Bill is going to sleep soon. Local driving tomorrow but still requiring an early start. Harry Potter is on. It’s been on quite a bit these days. 25th anniversary. I don’t mind, I’ve seen them a few times already. It’s like comfort food. Familiar enough.

I saw the first one, and it was the only one I saw in a theater. I went in 2001 with Annemarie, Rex, and Earl when I flew out to Arcata in a moment of bravado, since everyone else was reported to not fly that often after the 9/11 attacks.

April 30.2026