A Christmas Present from God

We did Christmas on Friday. It was my sister's decision, since she's the grandma now and we do Christmas at her house.
It makes me feel old to think that my little sister is a grandma with a four year old grandson. At any rate, the girls went down to Belleville with me and saw their aunt and uncle and cousins and grandma.
I drank Sangria and made my youngest daughter drive home.
Saturday Evil-X had the kids, so I drove down to Dupo to see Pot Farmer, then to Cahokia to visit Jeff, whose girl friend was spending Christmas in Wisconsin or somewhere. Mike was there, and Josh and his dad showed up and partied later, too.
I got back to Springfield around 10:00 pm, and decided to drive downtown and see if I could find any music. I wasn't very hopeful, it being Christmas and all. Damn, but it was cold.
Half the bars in town were closed, and I didn't see any bands inside the open ones. I decided to go to MoJo's for a beer.
Saturdays appear to be Disco Night at Mojo's. There was a disk jockey, a black fellow playing rap, hip-hop, and other disco-like music.
The place was pretty empty. When it was Dempsey's they had a band on Saturdays and you could never, ever get a seat at the bar, and were lucky to sit at all. There were two empty bar stools, and only two tables with people at them.
A girl whose name I never learned, having never formally been introduced, waved from her table and said hi. I didn't recognize any of the people she was with, and it looked like a double date, so I said hi and sidled up between the two empty seats at the bar.
'Sgoin' on, dude? Rier asks. Beer?
Yeah, I reply. I gave a dirty look toward the disk jockey, who continued to pump out bad music. Not very busy tonight I said, hinting that maybe Rier should stop with the disk jockey bullshit and get a band on Saturdays.
No, but they're drinkin'! he said. And disk jockeys are dirt cheap compared to bands.
I sat down. Rier asked Seen Levi?
No, I said, Haven't seen him since... Thursday night, here.
A thin, attractive young lady with jet black hair and a black leather jacket staggered in, said hi to the rather unattractive young lady sitting next to me and gave me a dirty look. I'd seen this woman somewhere, probably in a bar. I'm sorry, I replied to her frown, did I take your seat? Here, you can have it back I said, moving down a stool. She frowned, and smiled, and sat down and ordered some kind of whiskey drink.
A year or two ago I would have hit on her, but I've pretty much come back down to earth and realized that there's less than a snowball's chance in hell that I'll ever take any of these pretty women home. A year ago I'd have been fruitlessly buying both of them drinks.
God but the music sucked... I'm drinking this one beer and leaving. Damn, I'd rather be by myself with headphones than listen to this dreck sitting next to a pretty girl.
A pretty girl who kept turning around and giving me funny looks, like she expected me to hit on her. There was something about this drunken woman that bothered me... for the first time in a long time, I was actually afraid to hit on her! Not afraid of the guaranteed rejection; I am too damned old for these women, after all, but afraid that she wouldn't reject me and I'd wind up with another broken heart.
Damn. I realized that I've crossed another bridge, that I've started getting used to being by myself again and liking it. And afraid that the first time I get laid will be my last day of freedom.
I must have had my not so ugly as usual face on that night. Two young couples came in, the men staggering. One of the young ladies spied me watching, and I smiled at her. She smiled back and winked. The thin young woman next to me saw it, and stared at me again.
Another? Rier asked.
OK, just one more... the music sucks but the scenery is nice.
I couldn't hear the ladies' conversation over the poor excuse for music, and didn't really want to. I couldn't help overhearing, though, when they started arguing, and the thin attractive women next to me said age doesn't matter.
Boy, did my ears perk up! I waved to Rier and told him the lady needed another drink. You buying? she asked. Sure, I said, why not.
But I didn't pursue farther, this woman scared the willies out of me, and I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me - she gave the same vibes I got from Evil-X the night I met her.
I finished my beer and went home, shivering. And not entirely from the cold.