walked by a plaque that said ‘built by john updike.’ someone said ‘it must be a different john updike.’ someone said ‘no, he could’ve built it, the famous john updike.’ things were said about the building (the first floor was some kind of restaurant or furniture store, i think). i took a picture. alec said something like ‘do you want a picture? i want a picture of you guys, you guys, come on, picture time, john updike.’ alexandra and i stood by the plaque. wasn’t sure what to do at first, then one of us suggested we make the ‘dandy posture.’

decided to take spontaneous road trip to newport, RI. alec said he wanted a sugary ‘nasty’ gas station-type iced coffee before the car ride. pulled into a dunkin donuts. got coffee coolattas. alec and alexandra got small coffee flavored ones and i got a medium mocha. alexandra said something about pep boys and alec told a story about his friend prank-calling pep boys. could tell it had been funny in the moment, but probably funnier to see than hear, and that alec probably knew this. got some kind of second-hand enjoyment from this…like…relating to the situation of telling a ‘you had to be there’ story. it was just as good for me, i think, because of the feeling of relating.

driving in newport, on the main drag of town, i saw a dress on display and said ‘i want that, can we go buy it?’ parked in a lot one block up from the store. alec said something funny about dads. he said ‘should i bring my jacket? it might get cold.’ i said ‘you can wear my cardigan, it’s for guys and girls.’ looked at alexandra, who said i could call her ‘allie,’ and she was smiling. there was a ‘newport conceit’ going on. seemed like we were regarding newport as a bizzare and slightly offensive spectacle in this faux-entitled, travel channel ‘tourist show about tourists watching tourists’ way.

the three of us entered the store with the dress. i found a medium on a rack and bought it without trying it on. alec was being really funny with the cashier. sometimes alec goes into ‘tim and eric show presents: woody allen’ mode. he was asking the cashier questions about the appropriateness of certain things. she was responding minimally. i was trying not to laugh. he said ‘thank you for letting me stand in your store and look at your things’ earnestly and she kind of rolled her eyes and smiled. so funny.

alec said ‘i want to buy sunglasses’ and we walked around a sunglasses store. i couldn’t tell if alec really wanted them or not. he said ‘guys, should i buy oakleys? should we all buy oakleys?’ i said ‘yeah.’ i tried on sunglasses with frames that looked like martini glasses. allie and i were mostly talking/joking about who would buy those sunglasses. kept picturing a guy on his yacht, going ‘party time.’ alec seemed maybe seriously interested in buying sunglasses, and was walking around the store in a way i felt i walked around the RISD museum earlier when alec and allie had things to say about paintings that i didn’t.