Change of Routine

“Come on, let’s do something different this week!” I pleaded.
"Pick a day of this week, I will get a daily bus pass, and take the metro and MTA bus. After work, we can meet for dinner at Clifton’s Cafeteria on 7Th and Broadway; I love this place! They have not redecorated it since its opening in 1931. Reason for this is, I want to go into a lounge bar I saw on 5th and Spring last week, when I went on the “art-walk.” This lounge is situated on the ground floor of the Alexandria Hotel, which used to be my place of residence one time.”
- “You lived in a hotel near skid row?”
- “Was only for the couple of months I left home when I was sixteen."
- “What prompted you to leave home, how did you make it?"
- "It was the very last day of school for summer break. My best friend then, mentioned she was leaving home, and invited me to join her. She complained her parents mistreated her. I think I simply went along for the experience, as well as to protect her. I got a job tending a Latin bar on San Fernando Rd., She got a short term job, but landed a boyfriend who took care of her.
- “You were 16 and working in a bar? Bull shit!”
- "No, really! They did not ask me for ID, or anything. Had they, I could have easily procured those from Mc Arthur Park . It was easy money, I just served beer behind the counter, and the cash pay was good. Anyway, getting back to the lounge, this part of town is totally renovated, was used to be a seedy bar, is now a lounge with live, eclectic music. "
- “So, was living near skid row all you dreamed of, and more? Why the sentimental attachment for this bum hotel anyway?”
- "You don’t understand. My very 1st kiss was outside when a couple of guys gave us a ride. It was a very sweet kiss. "
- “Never been kissed by 16? Although working at a bar? Kind of hard to believe.”
- “I had just turned 16 a few months earlier, and going to all girls Catholic school, as well a as living a sheltered life is not conductive to embracing “La Vida loca.”
- “So where’s your so called best friend now?”
- "I lost track of her a long time ago. We drifted apart after she shacked up with her boyfriend, who was a drug dealer. Not the dime bag type either. The type with connections to Sinaloa, and Colombia. I stayed away from her then. It was her choice, besides before we left home, she had already confessed she wasn’t a virgin anyway. I decided to stay until mid August. I loved my independence, and self-reliance."
- “So the topic is virginity, did you lose it then? During your escapade, in a bar?”
- "Nope. I always have a method to my madness. When I did, I was 20. I decided I was too old not to find out what the deal was. During that time I was working evenings as a hostess in a restaurant. I chose my candidate based on a sense of altruism in fact. He was a very shy cook; he has a glass eye, and wore thick coke-rim eyeglasses, which only highlighted his flaw. His grew his mustache long, so that he resembled Pancho Villa."
- “I think you make these things up. Anyway, was it everything you expected it to be?”
- “I’ve told you, life is stranger than fiction! As to my 1st experience, let’s just say that if the blind asks directions from a deaf-mute, the nuance of communication may go astray."