Rita comes to the Alley
O'Malley's Alley
Chapter III
"Rita"
"Just beer and wine until 6 o'clock," the young woman with a tongue stud, a nose ring and six ear rings per ear said as she stared blankly back at Rita.
"Beer's okay," Rita said. The bartender put a bottle of Budweiser on the bar with a glass. Rita put a five-dollar bill on the bar and got three singles back. She thought that was very reasonable for a long neck beer and good entertainment. Rita moved closer to the stage and swayed to the music and sang a lyric or two when they played a familiar tune. Most of the songs were original and the crowd sometimes just stared because they were hearing the tune for the first time.
No one noticed Rita that first Sunday. She had a brief conversation with a waitress every time she brought her a beer. Rita came on a good day because the owner's band was in town very infrequently. She talked to a woman while she waited in line for the two-seat ladies room; the older woman lived on a boat in the anchorage and was doing her laundry and listening to the music.
Rita felt warm inside as the day wore on. Some of the glow was from the beer but she felt comfortable and just a little excited. Just like meeting a new man. She knew it was weird but she had experienced that feeling in Colorado the first time she saw the Rocky Mountains on her way to California. She considered it a great tragedy that she didn't stop then and there.
She fell in love with the 'Alley' while listening to the jam session. And she fell in love very infrequently, only three times in her 42 years. When she fell in love she fell hard even though Rita considered herself a practical down to earth person. She had been called 'no-nonsense' and that handle appealed to her.
She didn't think a woman in her early forties needed the company of other women to go to friendly places. And she was comfortable being without a man although she needed one every so often. She didn't know it was unusual for a woman to come into the alley alone, unless she was a Crack Whore.
When she returned the following Sunday the blues band had left town but there was a couple of pickers and a drum set playing old rock and roll tunes which wasn't exactly what she came to hear but it was better than nothing. The crowd was smaller so she got a seat at the bar. Rita dressed in long flowing, colorful caftans that exposed a little cleavage but covered up everything else down to her ankles.
A friendly couple introduced themselves as Bill and Elaine. They were locals and a little curious about Rita who was drinking straight Coca-Cola but carrying a mid-sized purse. The bottle of rum came out of the bag just enough to change the octane of the Coke. If the bartenders saw the bottle, they didn't say anything. It really didn't matter because the Cokes were the same prices as the beers.
"My that is a colorful dress," one older woman said to her on her third queue for the lady's room.
"It doesn't hurt an old girl like me to give a guy a little peek now and again," Rita said as she pulled the bodice away from her body and looked down. "Guys like 'em fine! And I like guys, too!" She knew she was pretty drunk but she was a plain talking farm girl when she drank. Besides, she hadn't been with a man in quite some time. "Horny will make you do some crazy shit," she once told her sixteen-year old daughter when she caught a boy in bed with her.
Her prospects weren't looking very good at the Alley and she went elsewhere to meet men. Rita gave up on the movie star type many years ago and settled for the strong silent type with an honest handsome face and a lot of enthusiasm.
Rita Jones was born and raised in Pig Snot, Iowa or some other sort of farm town. She grew up tough and hard with her two older and two younger brothers. She became caregiver for her two younger brothers and a virtual slave for her two older brothers. Despite all the housework she was still expected to do the farm chores along with the boys.
At age 17 her life changed when she fell in love with Roger, five years her senior. She met him at a party given by a girl friend. He was the same age as her older brother and was recently discharged from the Navy. His tattoos and worldly manner swept her off her feet. They walked the country roads and he told her of Hong Kong and Australia and such places. He promised to take her traveling and that promise rang in her ears as she gave herself to him. She wanted to get away from Pig Snot, Iowa. Roger turned 23 before she turned 18.
Rita defied her father and mother to marry him. She was a virgin when she met him and pregnant when she married him. He was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am lover but she didn't know the difference. He was more interested in a quick hop and off to the poolroom. He never took her more than twenty miles and he couldn't hold a job.
"That bastard stayed around just long enough to knock me up a second time and then took off for parts unknown," Rita confessed to her friends. Rita was the first person in her extended family to accept charity and it embarrassed her father into letting her come back home. She moved into a small shed on her parent's farm. Her brothers added several rooms and indoor plumbing for comfort. Her father never spoke to her about the disagreement but he held her mistake up to the younger boys. Rita finished high school via the mail and then enrolled in nursing school.
Her mother raised Rita's children, Paula and Tommy while she was away at nursing school. Years later when Rita was faced with her own rebellious children, she realize the sum of her debt to her parents. After her father died, her mother sold most of the farm to the oldest brother on a lifetime payment basis. She sold off the remaining portion and divided the money up among the other children. Rita took her share and moved to California and worked as a Nurse for ten years.
"I should have stayed in Iowa for the kids. California swept them up in the fast life and I struggled to keep them in line. I guess it was a payback for my stubbornness. They didn't listen any better than I did," she often said. They knew their way around mom but they graduated High School.
Neither one had the grades for college but at their age, neither did she. She worried Paula getting knocked up and being tied down to kids at an early age but she wouldn't listen to her mother. Tommy was an angel but he'd taken the day off when God handed out the brains. She tried tough love but they took her toughest and didn't change. Paula moved to Las Vegas and Tommy went back to Iowa to work on his Uncles farm but only for a few months. He disappeared after that.
Rita's mother was living in Estuary Beach, Florida when she suffered a stroke. Rita moved from California to Florida to take care of her. She certainly owed her that! She paid $500.00 per month for the privilege of being a couple miles from her mother and 3 blocks from the beach in a tiny apartment that was converted from the garage of a pilings home on Estuary Beach.
This blog/column is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Do not read while operating a vehicle or heavy machinery. Keep sending those great questions and comments! (Contact) boatguied@aol.com
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