The 2014 RFT Holiday Spirits Event, or The Fantastic Exploits of Dr. R

The RFT Holiday Spirits event was a fun evening. There was free booze. There was music. My feature on cocktails had just come out and copies of that were available. The editor loved my piece. Friends and colleagues were milling about. But I think my favorite thing was seeing my friend and some-time colleague Dr. R in action. Asked if he was a VIP (which indeed he is), he responded unhesitatingly with an emphatic “yes,” with the instinctual ease of a natural aristocrat. He was promptly presented with an orange tote bag filled with various premiums. That was early in the evening.

Every time I spotted him, he had yet another tote bag. Eventually each arm was festooned with dozens of festive orange tote bags and Dr. R was furtively snatching things and stuffing them into his tote bags. Pre-bottled cocktails, pamphlets, crumpled napkins, bus schedules, unattended partial bottles of bourbon, commemorative glasses, hats and scarves, cell phones, keys, a/v patch cords, a saxophone, anything that wasn’t securely bolted down found a spot in one of his capacious tote bags, the number of which somehow kept growing.

And then he was gone, disappeared into the night like the King of the Beggars, laden with treasure and fortified against the cold damp night. Well done, my friend. I’m studying your technique. Next time, you may have a little competition.