Even here I will put off my Hope

It was right after the summer when swine flu broke out and before the president won the nobel prize when some guy was handing out coupons for Diablo's Cantina on the Las Vegas strip. We stopped and collected a few. Apparently house margaritas were only 3$ inside. He also handed us some free passes to the roof. We looked up onto the porch and saw girls in stockings and lacy bikini tops dancing on tables. Flames roared skyward. Red bathing suits hugged asses. Had to be uncomfortable. But what did I know?

The coupons were significant because we had just returned from the Bellagio. We had ordered 2 mixed drinks at the bar for a ridiculous price. I was traveling across the country, from Oregon to Texas. I only ate magical granola protein cubes from health food stores. I only drank alcohol and free water. There was a recession. 2009.

For the second time in a year, I left my life behind. I couldn't afford to sit at the Bellagio hotel bar drinking 11$ bourbons.

I went into Diablo's and I led us to the bar. We sat next to a couple of girls and a guy. The bartender came buy and I ordered two blue margaritas.

"Noooo...." My brother yelled behind me. I turned.

"House margaritas are the shitty ones. They're 3$. The blue ones are full price." He grimaced.

The bartender returned. The tab was 22$. "Marcus, pick up this tab, will ya?" I said to him. He made an angry sound and handed over a few twenties.

"Proximity alert." Marcus said to me suddenly. The black haired girl next to me was trying to start a conversation with us. Whenever women approached us for no reason in particular, usually with their back to us, they hoped for conversation. Her pants were torn at the knees. I wondered if she had holes in everything she owned.

I was wearing a red leather jacket. She reached out and caressed my sleeve. "Hey, hands off the merchandise." I said to her.

She laughed. "I'm so glad you guys aren't creepy...I've had the creepiest guys sitting next to me all night." She said to me. This I could understand. She reached out to any guy. There was no father with her. Her mother was sipping Patron from a large glass with a water chaser.

"Where are you staying?" She asked. I told her our hotel, not trying to impress her. She bought me a shot of tequilla. My fried sat in between us, motioning for me to pull up a seat. He couldn't see that she was already mine. So I ignored them both. I talked to a rich blond with a giant margarita. I convinced her she was a unique snow flake as she poured red pomegranite flavored alcohol into my empty glass and my mouth and all over the bar. Her fiance was not impressed.

A flash is off in my face and I set down my glass. I am alone with the women and they ask for my picture. As is custom, I stick out my tongue and try to lick the young one's face. She knows my game, she knows she is mine. She licks my face. Then my tongue. Somewhere in Colorado, there is an 18 year old girl with pictures of me. Her tongue is like a chewed piece of bazooka joe that I had forgotten how sugarless it can be. especially in the desert air. Her mother laughs and takes more pictures.

She gives me her number and I promise to call as I head upstairs to the VIP room. I'll text her later. But I end up drinking 9 Keystones outside The Excaliber as my phone weeps, "come get me, come get me"- Las Vegas Jackie.

Marcus went to the bathroom. A hand on my shoulder asked me for a picture. It was a dark haired girl and a mother.