While we disagreed over a multitude of issues, I had no issue with her character. I appreciate her still to this day. But she had a habit of making fun and flirty statements that simply agitated me. This was one of them.
Well it was nearing 2 am when I recalled this comment. Cold, dark and quiet, the empty lobby filled with the magnificence of machinery, and vibrating lights echoing off the high ceilings and bland modern decor.
The CD skipped as the repetitive track was broken by the sound of sliding doors opening as a woman entered the lobby. As I looked up, I experienced an intense sense of familiarity.
She was from that portion of the population we don't recognize, only vilify and fractionalize. "Just say no to her enticing beauty, magnetic spirit." was Mrs. Reagan's advice for "her kind".
Clearly she had been all of that in her rebellious youth but years of survival, evasion, and resistance had left her tired, and frail. She was still searching for her escape from this hostile foreign land we call the "real world".
"I need a room." she requested with a smile and laugh. "This is absurd, I am only 30 minutes from my house but I have to get off the road and get to bed."
"If I could just see your Credit Card and I.D." I requested politely.
"Don't look at my age" she said with a demanding laugh as we made eye contact.
She continued to ramble at me discussing her evening. She was on her way back from New Orleans with a friend. She flirtatiously whined about how they were exhausted and that he had to be at work at 7 am.
The whole time she spoke I racked my brain trying to figure out who she was. Her name and face were so familiar I began to even consider that she was a star who had fallen from fame. A "has been" would be appropriate terminology if I was writing without a conscience.
But as I went through the motions of labor, I sided with my gut that I did in fact know her. Not simply recognize her existence from an appearance in the media.
Then he entered, "Her friend".
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