THE LONESOME CITY

     I parked the van in front of a sleezy bar and killed the engine. The sky was grayer than the audience at a Rolling Stones concert, and I was in a foul mood. I pushed my way into the bar and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit, smoke-filled room. A leggy brunette  at the bar looked me up and down through half-closed, blood-shot eyes.


 She looked dimly lit too. I could tell she was selling trouble and I wasn't in the market, so I chose a vacant stool at the end of the dirty mahogany bar and asked the bartender for a double shot of tequila. I hadn't sold a painting in a week, so I was drinking the cheap stuff...the stuff they use to disinfect the bathrooms ...and from the looks of the joint I'm pretty sure they weren't using it for that purpose anymore. The leggy brunette slithered off her barstool and weaved her way over to me...a lipstick smeared cigarette dangling from her Ferrari-red lips. "Hey, handsome..." she slurred through wafting vodka fumes, "gotta light?"  I pulled my Bic out of my pants and flicked it toward her. She pulled it toward the Chesterfield and sucked until it started to burn, and then blew a smoke ring toward the ceiling. My mood hadn't improved, in spite of the cheery atmosphere and i wasn't appreciating the interruption.


   
 "I noticed you were sitting here all by yourself and thought you looked lonesome," the broad  continued..."no need to be lonely when there's two of us," she slurred. She had a voice like an Evinrude with a dirty carburetor.
     "Listen Toots, " I replied, "I,m sure you're a nice girl, but i'm having a lousy day and I just came in here to get suitably drunk....so maybe another time...""Well you're wrong, " she said, "I'm not a nice girl at all...."    I could tell she wasn't gonna take the hint...she was looking for a victim and I was the only guy in the bar...she was on me like a cockroach on a plate of food at a Key Largo greasy spoon.. Without saying another word, I ordered one more shot, tossed it down, shoved a ten under the glass and walked out the door. I got back in the van and fired it up...no sense in sticking around...just another day in another city...a city with a cold heart and plenty of secrets...another day in the life of an itinerant artist...it's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful....and a little lonely.  I put the van in gear and drove deeper into the  gloom.