March of the Wooden Soldiers

This is a love story

Jack was once in a Rock-N-Roll band. Jane did not really enjoy the scene after a sad night at the club. Being only nineteen, she still managed to sneak her way into the club. The band was pretty good and she feasted at the bar. She was the recipient of free drinks of her choosing offered by a wide array of men looking to improve their luck. All she wanted was some decent conversation and a laugh. That is not too much to ask for a night out.

She walked out into the city air, mesmerized by the near full moon that appeared to race through the incoming clouds. The stars darted in and out on what could be be a sparkling late winter evening. She promised her friend Jessi she would meet this guy he set her up with.  She was low on self esteem, yet, buoyed by the fended off vultures at the show tonight.  The effects of the free drinks further invaded her logic and she teetered back into thinking she could be having some decedent fun right about now.

Life didn’t work this way. We are neither one-night stands nor the recipients of blind dates within the randomness of the cosmos.  But here she stood, under a streetlight on St. Paul Street. It was a seedy neighborhood, by Brighton standards, yet she stood steadfastly removed, waiting to meet her random stab at romance. No she was doing a favor for a friend. Admittedly, Jesse gave her the lead to the job she currently worked. She skipped going to the college route, which she could not afford, thanks to Jessi, she landed one of the better jobs in town,

She stood under the streetlight for a long time waiting for her blind date to appear. It was fun for her as every minute passed her expectation that he wouldn’t show increased. A sudden squall of snow picked up from the east, and out of the sparkling chaos walked a man who carried him self-well. He was downright dashing even wearing dark sunglasses in the middle of snow bluster.  “Wow, this could be a nice evening. ” she thought to herself as the man walked straight past her. He briefly tipped his hat her way and kept right on walking.

A wave of disappointment rippled through her body making her feel limp. She watched the snowflakes dance in the streetlight, and she felt herself drift into another reality, while looking in the opposite direction where the stranger walked, Abruptly, she felt a tap on her shoulder coming from the other direction.

Standing on a corner,  “You must be sweet Jane.” another stranger said in a clear calm public radio voice. He held a suitcase in his hand. He wore an old fashioned cardigan with patched elbow sleeves, He also brandished a pair of stylish grey corduroys similar to the guy in the sunglasses. Or maybe that was her mind playing tricks on her.

“Yes I am and you must be Jack, the actor, Jessi talks about so frequently. ”

“Yeah that is I, it so nice to meet you. ”   They shook hands politely and the snowflakes between them picked up with a new found vigor.

“BRRRR……”  was the most intelligent thing to pop into her mind and make it into her voice box.

“Let’s get a drink Jane, there is dive right around the corner.”

“Yeah I know.”

“So it’s a date?”

“I don’t know.”

The snow picked up with an added fury, Jack tilted his head in the direction of the dive bar and Jane followed without thinking.

The emergence into the smoky bar felt like a sensation a dog would get the first time they navigated a doggy door. Suddenly they were in another dimension.  Smoke swirled above the pool table refracting a bluish light from what appeared to be a jukebox. The place was nearly deserted except for few diehards bellied up to the bar.  Jane recognized one or two of them who tried to impress her a few hours earlier.

She did the natural thing and ordered a shot and a beer and the same thing for her friend.  Petey the bartender said, “You are lucky it is a quiet night, if you have another round have your friend do the ordering.”

One of the tenants of the bar, yelled louder than the situation merited, “Whore”

Jack and Jane marched over to a booth far away from the drunks at the bar.  Jack, noticing the weave in her march, grabbed her by the left hand and guided her into the booth. A path of melted snow marked their paths.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, a blind date on a snowy night with two fairly inebriated people, goes pretty much like any other first date.  They talked about the things they have in common. And for the longest time, they sat and watched the snowfall outside the window adjacent to their table. One can learn plenty listening to someone experiencing something so simple and pure. That is pure comfortable silence.

Blind date protocol guided their conversation back into a simple capitalist construct, even though either of them had any interest. Yes, the dating ritual of making sure your prospective mate had the ability to earn some hard earned money. It had its time and place as she once had a date walk out on her mid date, leaving her to pay the tab.

“You are so goddamn weird, take that as compliment.” Jane said with a stumbling laugh.

“Yeah I am actor, and many times I feel like an actor in everyday life.  In the fifteen minutes, we have known each other, I feel more like myself.

Jane raised her right eyebrow only, he had no idea how to translate this facial contortion.  This gesture was new to him.

“Take that as a compliment.”  Jack replied

“Do you act at the Geva, I have been there once and it is oddly fascinating.”

Jack slowly removed his sunglasses so he could look her in the eyes. By slowly, he slid them off his face at a snail’s pace seeming for dramatic effect.  Jane felt like she was in an odd scene in an Indie film. She liked the melodramatic effect. It was playful fun.

“No I am in film. It pays the bills and the hours are much better.” Jack said as he cracked a crooked smile.

“Do you have any clips of your work?  Or have you been in movies I might recognize.”

“I would rather steer this conversation away from my work.”  Jack tersely replied as Jane knocked back what remained of her drink. Fortified, she insisted he show her a clip of his work.

“I work corporate films, you know training films, sales pitches and semi inspirational videos.” Jack replied as he signaled Petey to bring them another round.  He was mesmerized by this playful back and forth, and opted not to walk to the bar to order a light beer. Instead he gave a hand signal to Petey, indicating another round. It took a while to get Petey’s attention.

“You the sunglass wearing guy in snowstorm do corporate training videos. Are they like the videos we have to watch as a new employee at the bank.” Jane said while licking  the salt off her freshly arrived margarita.

“Yes one in the same.”  he smiled demurely and decided to roll the dice.  “Yes I once played this guy in a training film, who was using border line suggestive comments toward a co worker. Boy did I have to smarmy myself up for that role.”

“Uhmmmm”

She emitted a deep belly laugh that filled the smoky room. The smoke danced under the light of the pool table and a drunk at the bar once again yelled out.  “Whore.”

“I wonder who that was directed at?  Jane said as she attempted to remove her jacket. She tugged at the zipper of few times as she tried to gather her wits.

The drunk at the bar yelled the same old cliche line echoed by far too many men scorned by somebody way out of their league or level on inebriation.

Jane leaned in and whispered  “How the hell did you get cast as the sexual harasser guy?”

“I have no idea. I honestly took the part because it was such a stretch for me. I thought playing this part would be a great exercise in taking on a role that is a complete stretch for me.”  Jack signaled for the check.

“Are you acting tonight or being yourself? ”

He sat and fidgeted looking for the twenty he had in his pocket.  By his quick calculations he had enough including  tip.  While searching his pockets,  he was reminded he had a porcelain garden gnome in his pocket. He had planned to give it to her as a gift. He let the gnome settle back into his pocket. There was no need to add to the pleasant poetic oddity of the night.

They walked to the front door of the bar and opened the door slightly. They both sat and watched a few frenzied snowflakes dance in the streetlight. The looked in each others eyes, back to the snow and and once again back at each other.

“Close the door whore, its Fucking Cold.” once again  a voice echoed from the bar.

“Wait here for me. I forgot to leave a tip.”

Jack walked back inside and marched right over to the bar where a lone man sat yelling at the muted television, The Sabres were getting blown out. Jack knew the voice. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind as he tapped the man on the shoulder.

The man turned and attempted to look him straight in the eye. “Hey buddy I have a tip for you.”

“Yeah what?” he said after a belch he surprisingly tried to muffle

Wordlessly, Jack extended a solid left jab to the jaw of the harassing man.   He decided to use his off hand as to not hurt the man too severely. He only wanted to send a message in many directions.

The drunk rocketed from his barstool, and fell silently to the floor, followed by a hollow thud.

Petey walked out of the backroom and asked Jack if he had forgotten anything.

“Sorry I forgot to leave a tip.” he said as he handed Petey a five-dollar bill.

He joined Jane under the streetlight, as a wind rolled in from the west. The snow picked up with a sudden newfound fury. Jack kissed Jane firmly on the lips. It was not an ametuer clumsy kiss. It was a kiss he saved for a special occasion. Jane, expecting it, returned the warm embrace.

Jane was in a rush, as she had work in the morning. said  Let’s do this again.”

“You know where to find me.”

And Jack faded once again into a snow squall and headed back from where he came.