That song takes me back....

[ChipWrecked]

On my way in to work tonight, I heard 'You' by Candlebox on the radio. Reminded me of a little story...

When I lived in Atlanta and worked retail, one of the stores I worked (at Northgate Mall for you Atlanteans) had a girl a few years younger than I. Oh, OK, more like ten years younger. We enjoyed a flirting kind of thing which I never thought much of because she was living with some guy.

One day we went into the service stairway for something, trash run or whatever. We made the landing halfway down, and whatever it was came over us both at the same time. We hit it right there, standing in that grubby stairwell.

Not long afterward, she asked me to come to an Amateur Night at a strip club; she was taking a shot at the prize. I went, she lost, but was offered a job that week, which she accepted.

I was bummed. Tried to talk her out of it. Mind, we weren't hooked up (in fact we never hit it again), she was still with her boyfriend. But we had gotten close. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

I don't like strip clubs much. I think they're depressing, the vacant stare in the dancers' eyes bugs me. I made my friend promise me she wouldn't get involved in the 'life'.

I left that store soon after, she quit and started stripping full time. I would stop by now and then (not as often as you think), she would lap dance me and we'd talk. 'You' was her signature song. Eventually I lost track of her.

Not long before I left the ATL for the West Coast, I heard she was back with the old company. I stopped by her store while making my 'saying goodbye' rounds. We sat outside for a long cigarette break. She told me how she'd gotten heavily into alcohol, got pregnant and lost the baby (I didn't ask how), broke up with the boyfriend and finally realized she was sinking and had better get hold of herself before she lost it all. It was a bittersweet moment.

That was five years ago. I'm married, have a daughter almost two. Those days are long since history.

But whenever I hear 'You', I can see her up there on stage just as clear as day.

I hope she's enjoying life as much as I am.