From nowhere there was rain- unnaturally heavy. Headlights and taillights lost themselves in a sloshing kaliedoscope that overcame my windshield wipers. Panicky braking. I pulled a hard right into a parking light. Neon lights spoke of something open, what it was couldn’t have mattered less at that moment.
I’ve never been an umbrella kind of guy- duck and run- that’s me. Seconds later I’m wiping water from my hair on the linoleum foyer of the Larimar lounge. I shook stray droplets from my glasses and settled them on my nose while looking for a place to sit.
I’m not a drinker, see, but my nerves were frayed so I took a booth, figured to calm down. The bartender came out from behind the counter.
“Got no girl tonight... what’ll it be.”
“Gosh I...I don’t know.”
“Like a suggestion?”
“No...I...I’m not a drinker...all right if I just sit for a bit?” “Suit yourself...” The bartender turned.
“Wait...I’ll have a ... highball? Is that a drink?”
“Sure is pal, sure is.”
He was quick with his trade and I gave him two crumpled bills for his service. “Thirty five cents for you.”
He gave a two finger salute then pointed through the window to the parking lot. “That your Hudson with the lights on?”
I winced and started to stand- stopped by his arm on my shoulder.
“I’ll have my boy take care of it. MICKEY!”
I took a sip of the cold brown liquid. I didn’t like the flavor, and casually set the glass back down.
“Good?” he asked.
I nodded.
I scanned the lounge as the bartender walked away. There was tall drink in a green dress by the juke smoking Pall Malls. I watched her slip a dime in the slot. She turned after making her selection and sauntered towards me as Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra’s Wonderland at Night purred through the smoky air.
She sat opposite me.
“I’m not looking for no company… just waiting out the rain.”
“And what if it never stops?”
“Then it’s a God-thing right? Forty days and forty nights-and all that.”
She shrugged and waved a hand at the barkeep who brought her a clear drink with an olive. He knew what she was drinking.
“Let me ask you something...” She said interrupting for a sip from her glass. “What if you didn’t make it out there ?”
I tried to make a crass expression and asked for clarification. “Out there in the rain...what if something happened.” “Something?”
“You skidded, you rolled...you didn’t make it”
“Yet here I am.”
“Yes, here you are.” She nodded.
There was an uncomfortable silence. I worked at the highball, trying to hide a grimace as the brown liquid went down.
“Hey, why don’t we talk about something else...you like movies? Have you seen Lolita? Or Lawrence of Arabia?”
“Marilyn Monroe dead at 36.” She shook her head wistfully. “Girls like us, we belong to the rain.”
“Ayyy! What is it with you and death?” I tried to say it like it was a joke but it didn’t sound that way once it came out. I pulled again at the highball.
She crushed out one cigarette and started another exhaling over her left shoulder.
“I was out there once.” She said. “I miss it.” She stared and her eyes glistened before a smile returned. “But its not so bad in here.”
“Listen, you’re scaring me.” I said grimacing as I drained the last of the bitter, burning highball down my throat. “Nice to meet you, sister.”
I slid over the smooth vinyl seat and exited the booth. I nodded once to the barkeep who simply raised an eyebrow.
Standing on the foyer I pressed on the brushed aluminum glass door which gave way easily. The rain was still coming down heavily. “Like God was crying.” My mother used to say. I let the door swing back.
I walked back to the booth. “I’ll have another highball.” I called to the bartender.
He nodded.
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