Our kids were at their grandparents for the week and it was a nice change of pace. When Thursday night rolled around, I thought I would head straight home. But some of the guys from work convinced me to go over to The Sparrow, the local bar. Calling up Marie, I could hear disappointment in her voice, but she told me to have fun.
Reaching the bar, we had a few beers while talking over work and life. We had been there for about an hour when I got distracted by a woman sitting at the bar. I had seen her enter, but didn’t pay any further attention until now. She was sitting at the bar in business dress, skirt, heels, and blouse. What caught my attention was the fact that she kept waving off any men who approached. Without realizing it, my coworker Larry decided to go over and try for himself. They talked for several minutes and things seemed to be going well, but then he must have said the wrong thing because she came scurrying back to our table. When we pressed him for details, he said that he had asked her to dance to the music that had just started, but that she coldly refused. As guys do, we all ribbed him about it for several minutes. Eventually he grew tired of it and challenged is to try. As the only married man, I refused. But they jumped all over me for not being any fun. Finally giving in, I hiked up my courage and walked over. After all, I was just going to talk to her, how much trouble could that be? Walking up to the woman I introduced myself, “Hi, I’m Ellen” She replied. We did the standard bar chit chat and I learned she was in town for the day on business and would be flying out tomorrow morning.