Biker, The Blues and The Runaway Boa

off as some ordinary pervert and no I didn’t want to come off as some an extraordinary pervert either. I thought about it and decided well no big deal, if we talked fine and if we didn’t such is life. The funniest thought entered my mind - maybe she will come walking by with a camera? Well it happened once before. Her set was over and she received a warm applause and left the stage. A short while later she entered through a curtain by the bar that led into the main room. She still looked good but not wearing as big a smile so I felt sure there was a story there. What would make a gal like this perform to “Ready For Love”? She was making the stripper’s customary rounds, smiling and still wearing that boa. Finally she came by me and I blurted out with a smile what’s a good girl like you doing in a place like this? She asked do you really want to know and I said actually I do. She sat down. She said I don’t sit anywhere without a drink no conversations for free. That felt like a low shot but I bit. I said to her that I noticed her choice of music and the change in expression on her face when “Ready For Love” came on. I think there is a story there am I right? She sat back, folded her arms and said ok you really want to go there? I said for some reason I seem to need to know. Believe it or not she opened up. Of course at this point I had no way to know if it was the truth or not. But she was an American citizen that crossed the border four nights a week to make excellent money in Canada. She also found a way to get health insurance there and when you add those two things together that explains what a good girl was doing in a place like that. But I wanted to know more - was she just playing that song to build ambiance for a big finish or was she hiding something, on the move? Maybe running, lonely, missing someone and ready for love? Turns out she was jilted and left hanging without a job after she had moved to Detroit from Orlando. She still loved the guy and this song was her unspoken lament to him. That’s heavy. I think she could tell by the look on my face that she hit a nerve when she told me that and reached over and touched my arm. I said now I know thank you and I am sorry that happened to you. She said me too. Slowly but surely we moved closer toward getting to know one another and then some guy came by and gently told her to work the floor and that she was up again soon. She said ok and told me well that’s how it goes and she had to go. I nodded. Then she asked if I was going back across the bridge that night and I said yes and she said well me too. How about a dive bar with good sandwiches after I get off. Like any good boy scout of course I was willing to escort this distressed damsel into a dive bar with good bar food. She had one more set to do and then had to make her table rounds. She handed me a note and it was the address and name of the place she wanted to go to along with a phone number. The place was named The continued on next page