In This Place

Dear Me

"...this is a letter to the girl I used to be..."--Nichole Nordeman

The rest of the day and well into the night was a blur. A small bar with the odd name of The Mad Llama started them off and Cory vaguely remembered talking to the bartender, who waxed poetic over the origin of something called a "Vesper Martini." He kept pouring them up for Cory as she half-listened to everything he said.

It was a James Bond created drink from the book Casino Royale which Cory had found interesting, as her mind wandered off and thought about PattyJo, and when she'd called her at the casino, and PattyJo's James Bond roulette strategy which, in turn, led her down the road of who deserved to live and who didn't, which made her think of Kris and...

They'd vacated when Switcher had accidentally hit his darts partner in the hand when the guy had gone to pull them from the board. Switcher had called the guy a dumb sonofabitch for going out there before he was done with his turn, but the guy had had enough, considering Switcher had already hit the wall by the jukebox several times as well as the ancient pinball machine with his dart throws.

Then it was on to some place called The Lazy Cowboy Saloon that still had a mechanical bull left over from the Urban Cowboy craze. Cory told the bartender to make her something with bourbon and ignored Switcher's look of utter distaste at her choice as he quizzed the bartender on all the alcohol the guy had in the building.

But the bartender had not made a bad choice, Cory had quickly thrown back several "Lion's Tail" cocktails and they had packed a kick because she recalled, in bits and pieces, trying to ride the mechanical bull. She'd done better than Switcher, who had immediately gotten slung into the wall, and they had wound up having to leave because Switcher had accused the bull operator of taking it easier on Cory, because she had tits.

They had then moved on to a bar Switcher raved about, something called Hells Bells where all the drinks were on fire. Cory had inhaled several "Flaming Hot Zombies" and knew she was on the verge of extreme drunkenness when she started finding Switcher's lame jokes about his dick hilarious.

It had been Karaoke Night and Cory remembered begging God or anyone listening to pass out as Switcher took the mike and sang "Highway to Hell" before falling off the stage.

They had then moved on to the Wooden Dagger, a homey little bar that Cory usually avoided, mainly because it had a wholesome "Cheers" atmosphere and always had some type of crazy bar game going on.

Poetry Night.

Cory sat at the bar and drank Long Islands while she listened to sad poetry about lost love and moonlit nights while a businessman tried to pick her up with cliched lines like, "You know...my wife has never understood me. And I love her, you know? I love her."

"I'm going up there, Cor. I'm a poet. I can do better than those guys." Switcher poured himself onto the stool next to her.

"I hope you can recite better than you can sing."

"Come onnnn....I'm good. I'm gonna go up there!"

"Excuse me...but the lady and I were having a conversation."