...a cool guy with a great beard named Travis double-booked himself for dinner one evening with two friends of his who'd never met. Being the standup guy that he is and not wanting to bail on either of them, he instead insisted on a dinner for three. Eric, being one of the friends, put on (one of) his favorite book tee-shirt(s) and walked the few blocks from his apartment to the restaurant. On the way, he noticed passersby looking at the shirt and thought, "I wonder how many people know that this muted trumpet on my chest is the emblem for the underground information delivery system, Tristero, from Thomas Pynchon's 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49?" Not many, he figured. Arriving early, he took a seat in a booth and waited. Shortly after, Travis walked in with his beautiful friend, Marisa. Eric rose to meet them and say hello and they took their seats in the booth. Soon after sitting down, Marisa causally said, "Oh," as if she had just noticed (she hadn't) and showed Eric the tattoo on her forearm of the same muted trumpet on his shirt! They both did their best not to freak out, playing it cool while the three of them talked and ate and at the end of the evening went their separate ways. Eric, not one to lose very many of the here's-how-much-I-like-this-book contests, spent all night thinking about the woman who had tattooed on her body what he only had printed on his shirt. He finally fell asleep, hoping wildly that their paths would soon cross again. If you're a reader of fairy tales like this one, it won't surprise to you know all the things that happened between then and now were fated and on June 23, 2018, in High Falls, NY, Eric and Marisa will continue living happily ever after, as husband and wife!