Sunday, May 13, 2007

No shirt. No shoes. No service needed.

We stopped for Hollywood sunglasses , popped on the highway and flew. The miles unraveled behind us blindly, ribbon dancing to the past.

We left it all. The cats, the dog (Please, Lord, let the neighbors feed the dog!), the bills, the wayward child with a payday wad in his pocket, the refinanced -high financed-home-sweet-home, the dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and dirty little secrets. Left ‘em all.

When the tires crunched on the coquina driveway, salty dust dancing in a lazy tornado around the car, we smiled. Big summery run-away smiles. We listened to the last verse of the song and waited for the sand to settle, a flannel blanket on the car. “This is good. This is so good”. Our doors opened and slammed in tandem.

We parked our little fannies three feet from the unlocked motel room door. The splintery Adirondack chairs were just our size. Like Goldilocks and the three bears, we tried them all on until we found the ones that “fit just right”. Comfy, cozy. The ocean roared and hiccupped salty spittle into the air…GOD, I’M IN LOVE…..
“Whatchoo girls doin’?” the big fellow, crossing the grass and ambling our way, drawled with a slow grin on his face. “Bonding” she whispered over the pink Marguerita. “Well, that’s nice. Real nice” “Whatchoo girls drinkin’? he said with his head tilted and his smile sliding sideways into his double chin. “Sunshine” we chimed. We’re drinking in the sunshine. He laughed with his eyes to the sky and turned on his feet like Fred Astaire…..sauntered back to the Tiki Bar.

“Bartender! We need some room service here! Gotta delivery to make!” “See that blonde hippie chic over there……” And so began the week-end.

Bonding with our new best friends.

The three suburban fifty-something ladies, on a girl’s night out. They giggled and drank foo-foo drinks with little pink umbrellas, stewed meatballs in a crock-pot plugged in through the window, and played hopelessly romantic 70’s songs from a giant boom box. At midnight they were dancing on the sidewalk, in their two-piece (not bikini, thank God, not bikini) swimsuits and cover-ups.

The little league Dads and their tribe of youngin’s. On a Field-Trip of dreams. The kids ran in an endless “You’re gonna crack your head open and knock your teeth out” circle…. around the picnic tables, down the sidewalks, through the bar, into the pool, onto the deck, in your room, my room, their room…laughter trailing behind them like bubbles from a magic wand.

The big fellow and his brother. The chef with his guitar. The absolutely adorable bartender with no hair and tattoos. The brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and the biggest baby I ever saw from Indiana.

The cops. Sauntering by at 2:30 in the morning. “You folks need to go to bed now”….respectfully shining their flashlights at our barefeet and not blinding us with their intrusion. “You got all day tomorrow, Coach".....

The housekeepers, smiling toothlessly and knocking in early morning whisper tones. “Well, if you don’t want no towels or nothing’, do you need ice?” “We gotta get it before the bar opens up again”

We left a good tip.

The tires spun on the too hot, too dry gravel . I adjusted the rear view mirror and gunned into traffic. There was no looking back. Only a lazy tornado spinning in the distance.






23 comments:

skinnylittleblonde said...

Just Give Me Peace!
I miss you!
I miss your daughter!
I miss the beer!
I miss the beach!
I love this bar too!

Beautiful post SisterLove!
Debts are a big part of the American dream...so refi-ing at higher than a kite rates is all well worth it when you get to have moments like these! ILY & can't wait...one more month!

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Poetry. The rhythum spins the reader breathless. You go, girl - (but always, always take us with you).

Jacob said...

I love courteous cops. Great name for a Cafe, yes? The Courteous Cop Cafe.

Happy Mother's Day to you or your mother.

Mine says hello.

SpongyBones said...

Sweet! Happy Mothers day!

singleton said...

SLB.....That would be your wedding wall, a little embellished now! Things change, but love grows, baby. Feel the love.....

Shrinkwrapped.....the people (and the sun and the beer) spun me breathless! And you're welcome to join anytime....as the sun said "Follow me, I'm free!"

gawpo....Nice to see you again! Funny, but the two times I've met courteous cops (32 years in between incidents) were in this very same seaside courtyard! Either they make 'em good there or pay them well!

singleton said...

Spongy...Damn, you did it again! Typing in tandem! Love it!

Bardouble29 said...

I hope your mothers day was fabulous. Again, I can picture the smiles, the drinks, the dancing and the big fellow doing a little flirtin!

Anonymous said...

Ut-Oh...so I guess I should come armed with a couple choice colors to embellish the wall, like it has embellished us ;)

Angela Marie said...

I love your stories... and you tell them so well too. Almost feels like I'm there.

Happy Mother's Day Sweet Lady! I am glad that you had some time with your girl. :)

SHE said...

wonderful how you can take so many of us with you on these adventures

but without ever slowing you down ")

mindy said...

courteous cops? we don't have those here.
you make me want to live near the beach. :)

Scott from Oregon said...

What does Whoot! mean?

I feel like saying whoot! but I don't know why.

How come you blondes get to have all the fun?

Scott from Oregon said...

Oh, here is another "quickie" to help you think...

http://blogroulette.blogspot.com/

JustRun said...

I wanna go!

singleton said...

bardouble....the big fella was smiling, drinking and dancing too. We slowed him down a little right before he started serenading!

SLB....I feel a night run coming on....oh, and fluorescent peace and love!

Angela Marie....Happy Mother's Day to you too, your post was absolutely beautiful!

She...I'm too old to slow down now! And the more the merrier :)

singleton said...

Mindy...well we don't usually have them here either! It must have just been our run-away smiles! LOL! It was probably just shift-change!

Scott...Whootchoo talkin' bout? When I come down off my this trip, we'll have to do banners.....Too cool!

Justrun...And I want to go back:)!

Unknown said...

Girlfriend, you can write. This post brought back a ton of memories. Made me think of people I haven't thought of in along time, those random people that pepper your life from time to time. Every trip here is a pleasure.

Anonymous said...

I think you could publish your blog stories under the title "short trips to take" or something like that. I always wish I was there or in the moment you are describing.

singleton said...

justme....isn't it wonderful how random meetings, chance encounters can turn into lifetime memories?

wreckless.....TY! They're just run-aways and I'm running as fast as I can :)

phaseoutgirl said...

Singlton,

Woot!Woot! My daughters laugh at me when i I say that. I love doing girlie stiff with my girls, it has been a while since I have been a little "wreckless". Time to change that, I think.

thank you for your beautiful posts.. life always seems fun when you write them...

cheers,
Cecilia

singleton said...

phaseout....Woot! Woot! Tink you back! I decidedly entered this "Without abandon" stage...After kissing two of my dearest, most soulful friends good-bye, I took a deep breath and decided life is for the living, not the waiting....Clink! Clink! to the good stuff! It's free!

Me said...

respectfully shining their flashlights at our barefeet and not blinding us with their intrusion

Well, that was awfully nice of them. I don't know why I'm so suprised by this gesture of respect.

singleton said...

orhan....I would have been shocked, but I had been doing shots! so really, I'm not quite sure if it really happened that way! :)