Through the long lonely nights she filled my sleep

Her body softly swaying to that smoky beat

 

It was real late, the band was on their last set. Most of the commons had cleared out of the bar by now. The band had begun a slow tune and the last group in the bar took to the dance floor. That's when I first noticed her. She was clad in a white dress which seemed to cross a generation gap. The dress wasn't in the least bit revealing, but that only seemed to add to her appeal, in a classy and elegant sort of way. She has red hair, not the mulberry kind, but a vibrant and sweet strawberry blonde.

 

She danced with superfluous splendor. Gently gliding her way across the floor with a confidence unprecedented. Her body is an opulence of rhythmic delicacy, swaying in and out like a mid-morning ocean breeze. I watched, mostly in awe at the girl beheld before me. The song ended and the group returned to their table. My eyes followed her rather closely.

 

The band came out with their last song: a fast moving, bluesy rocker. An elderly man, who until now looked rather out of place, darted onto the dance floor. And as if some potent force had been unleashed within him, he danced almost crazily about. He threw himself wildly around the entire dance floor, which was vacant besides the old man himself. Up until now, I'd never seen an old person move so fast, I didn't even know they could move so fast.

 

Then in an unprecedented move, I saw the sweet woman in the white dress get up and join the old man. It was a moving sight, watching the two of them alone on the dance floor. Perhaps she did it out of pity, or maybe she was just looking for a good time. I saw other people laughing and couldn't help but laugh a bit myself. From time to time, the woman on the dance floor laughed at the old man's "sexually suggestive" dance moves. At any given time, the girl's friends would cheer from their table at the sight of the old man seemingly outdoing himself. The two looked as if they were having the time of their lives.

 


 

Once the show was over I was outside with the band as they were having a smoke break. I saw the old man walking to his car to leave. It was an old Toyota of some sort that looked like it barely ran. He pulled out and went down the mall-front parking lot. At the same moment I noticed a cop pulling up one of the lots. I instantly knew what was going on. The cop was parked in the parking lot waiting for someone to pull out so he could issue them a DUI. I began to protest in my mind: Don't you dare, Don't you dare pull him over. Part of me knew that the old man was drunk, but still it wasn't fair, this innocent and probably lonely old man was just trying to have a good time.

 

Then perhaps by luck or an act of God, the cop stopped short of pursuing the old man. He got out and walked over to my Dad's truck, shining a flashlight in the front window. Not sure why he was checking the truck, and I'll probably never know. Before he drove off he probably noted my copy of "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" on the dashboard.

 


Opening lyrics from Bob Seger's Mainstreet

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