four- Henry

Outside the Thursday Tattoo, Dylan smokes a cigarette, something she does rarely. She isn’t stressed. She’s excited. Nick is inside getting ready to close the shop and talking with the last customer, who is still looking at his new tattoo in the mirror. He’s the reason Dylan is smoking. His name is Henry.

Henry graduated from U of Oregon in Eugene, where he played Strong Safety for the Ducks. The cheerleaders had a nickname and a chant for all the players. They didn’t have a hard time coming up with one for Henry. His last name is Hurt. There are nights when he walks around his apartment, carrying a football, when he can still hear the girls yelling, “Henry Bring On The Hurt! Henry Bring On The Hurt!”
He moved to Portland after graduating and was hired to manage a Co-op in the Pearl District. He lives in a modern two floor apartment off Belmont on the other side of the river, in Southeast Portland. Inside his garage is a blue Challenger with black racing stripes and a black Ducati 1098, though he usually takes his bicycle to work. Henry was raised healthy and strong and is amazingly in better shape now than he was in college.
He grew up in a small town in Washington, played all kinds of sports, and was in Church every Sunday morning with his idyllic family. His first kiss was with Cinthia Orman in the eighth grade. He and Cindy used to sneak out of their houses at night and meet under the baseball field bleachers to make out and wish they were older. Henry was sure he was going to marry her… until he went to high school and realized that Cinthia Orman was not one in a million and was in fact just one of a hundred pretty girls in school. With this epiphany came a string of girlfriends and hookups that carried him through college. To be cliché, he could write a book.
Now, though still enjoying the occasional one night stand, Henry is older and starting to get tired of sleeping around. He often thinks about little Cindy and wonders where she is now and what would have happened if they went steady through high school. He wonders who it will be that’ll make him want to settle… to commit. He thinks about it more whenever there’s a girl in his bed and all he knows about her is her first name and natural hair color. He stopped wondering two minutes after he walked into the Thursday Tattoo; the moment he met Dylan…

“Henry Hurt?” Dylan read from the post it on the desk. “You’re on time.”
“I guess I am,” Henry grinned. He noticed her blushing and felt a few butterflies himself. She was pretty but also interesting. There was something unforgettable about her.
“So Henry Hurt, what can I get you?”
“Black ink, Old English font, middle of my shoulders right under my neck, I want the words Sine Qua Non.”
“Without which not…” Dylan replied, now very interested in the handsome yuppie in front of her.
Henry just smiled and nodded.

Nick had heard the exchange and cut in, “Sine Qua Non? Let’s go see how big you want the tattoo and we can get started.” Dylan stared at Henry as Nick rushed him to one of the stations. She watched him take off his shirt and saw that he had other tattoos: the number 45 on his right shoulder and the name Evelyn wrapped around his bicep. Her heart sank when she saw the name. This surprised her. She couldn’t remember the last time she was infatuated with a guy she just met. She decided that she needed a cigarette.
“Nick, I’m going down the hill, do you need anything?”
“Green Tea with honey, hunny,” he smiled. “I’ll give you the money when you come back.”
“I’ll be back in a little bit.” Dylan grabbed her coat and walked out. Nick and
Henry watched her as she left and noticed each other looking. A sudden thought crossed Nick’s mind. It worried him, but he was never one to worry. As quickly as it came, the thought left Nick’s mind.

Dylan took her time walking to the store down the hill. She took even more time walking back up. She was hoping that Henry would be gone by the time she came back. He made her blush. He made her feel shy.
She set the tea on Nick’s desk and he thanked her without looking up from Henry’s back. The tattoo was almost done. Dylan had almost forgotten about the cigarettes when the sight of Henry’s beautifully sculpted torso reminded her…

Outside, Dylan smokes a cigarette down to the filter, the sun is setting slowly and the wind is warm. Nick and Henry exit the shop and Nick locks the door behind him.
“I need to rush, thanks for the tea!” Nick kisses Dylan on the cheek and starts to jog down the hill towards the bus stop. He doesn’t realize till weeks later the mistake he made. He left Henry alone with Dylan.

“Can I ask you a question Henry?” Dylan is ready to have her hopes dashed. “I saw that you have other tattoos…”
“Evelyn is the name of my hometown.” Henry is used to people asking him about that tattoo. “Now, can I ask you a question?”
Dylan is embarrassed but relieved by his answer. “You may.”
“Are you hungry?”

Henry and Dylan take their time walking down the hill towards the bus stop. When they get there they see the bus standing, as if waiting for them. They look at the bus then at each other and continue walking. They walk and talk down Burnside, across the bridge, all the way downtown, where they find a small Chinese restaurant off the Waterfront. The sun sets completely and the wind blows a little colder. There is that smell in the air, when the seasons are changing and the feeling that something new is coming.