"You having reporters to dinner?" he asked. "No," said Bucky, "Just some friends." The manager continued to pour beer, now filling the Lovebunnies' two hard earned growlers. He shook his head slightly, and glared even harder at his work, amazed that anyone would go through the conniptions Loie and Bucky had just for a dinner. They paid for their growlers, and while the manager rang up their beer, Loie asked Bucky if they should stay a buy a glass or two.
"To maybe make it up to him," she said.
"I think we should just get the heck out of here," Bucky whispered back. "This guy is steaming." And so they did, driving back home in nicer, though still cloudy, weather. The Valentine Midas Feast was a great success. The Midas Touch was the perfect accompaniment to grilled marinated lamb with vegetables and lentil beans. Barbara and Miles White and all agreed that it was a splendid occasion.
March was a luxurious month for Loie and Bucky.
"Will you make us some things to take for dinners?" Loie asked. She was making plans for the Three Ls Weekend in Ocean City. Laura and Laurie were to be the other Ls, and Yo went, too.
"Sure," said Bucky. "What's your pleasure?" Loie made up a menu, and Bucky cooked and packed with a will. Yo's poetry was the hit of the weekend. When she got back, Loie told Bucky that everyone was so pleased with their dinners and snacks that they wanted to give him a present in return. She asked what he would like.
"Oh, that's easy," said Bucky. "I want a massage." He knew that all three Ls were excellent massagers. So the next weekend, the last in March, Bucky cooked up a nice Italian simple dinner and the three Ls reunited to take turns giving him wonderful relaxing massages.
"I'll cook for massaging any time," he repeated often over the course of the evening. "Any time."
The very next weekend, The Lovebunnies took a special trip. Loie had spent many hours on her computer organising a present for Bucky, to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. They were operating on Bucky's special Plan For Dreaded Birthdays. Bucky says that when you're facing the prospect of a dreaded birthday, such as a fiftieth, you should plan to do something very special and exciting to celebrate it. That way, you'll be looking forward to the birthday, instead of dreading it!
"Except I'm not dreading my birthday," said Bucky. "I like the idea of being fifty. Heck, I never thought I'd make it this far at all, let alone be so lucky as to be married to you."
"Thank you," said Loie. "That's very sweet. But we're proceeding according to the Plan. I want to go to New Orleans." Bucky laughed and agreed that it sounded like a good idea to him, too. Loie had been trying to find a time closer to Bucky's May fourth birthday, but there were two festivals in New Orleans right around then. It was very difficult finding a nice place to stay.
"I know you've been working hard on this," said Bucky. "But really, I'd just as soon go when there aren't so many crowds. This trip is to sample the old time restaurants, and it'd be better to not be fighting crowds, don't you think?" Loie agreed that for this trip, a quiet French Quarter would be preferable, and had no trouble getting them Room Seven overlooking the courtyard at the Maison DeVille on Toulouse, between Bourbon and Royal, in the beginning of April. That was a month before Bucky's birthday, but celebrating early and often is Loie's Plan for All Birthdays! So on the fifth of April, the Lovebunnies were off to New Orleans for Bucky's Old Creole Gourmandising Fiftieth Birthday Trip.
Of course they had a wonderful time. The weather was good, although not quite as warm as Loie might have liked it. They ate at all their favorite little places, and added Galatoire's, Clancy's, Arnauds and Tujaques to their restaurant roster. Thursday, being a travel day, was short day in the French Quarter: late lunch, a bit of strolling and shopping; a nap before supper at Galatoire's.
"This is the best coffee I've ever had," said Loie. "As good as the first cup of Kona coffee at the King Kamehameha Hotel."
"We're off to a good start," said Bucky. After that Bucky took Loie back to their room and then went out to stroll Bourbon Street until the wee hours. Friday was a bit more energetic. Breakfast from Café du Monde kept the Lovebunnies going through a two and a half hour walking tour of the Quarter. Their guide Michael was a fount of information. He rattled on about historical, cultural and modern events without a stop. The tour lasted long enough to make them late for the cemetary tour they had planned to catch, so the gourmandising continued with lunch from the Central Grocery: a muffaletta sandwhich, of course. Bucky enjoyed people watching in Jackson Square while Loie shopped in the flea market. Supper that night was at Clancy's, a newer restaurant in the suburbs near Tulane University.
"Well," said Bucky, "This place isn't a hundred years old like the others, but it's good. Very good."
"Steak and fried oysters sounds pretty old fashioned to me," said Loie. "I just wish I liked the martini." Loie ordered her first ever martini, and although the Lovebunnies agreed that it was probably a good martini, neither found it to their taste.
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