![]() ![]() ![]() He smiled and slid a hand onto her thigh. You like that, honey? You look like you got a sweet tooth." He wore a red plaid shirt under suspenders, gray tufts peeking out from under his Pacific Coast Bait & Tackle cap. Her third time in the club, an old black man pulled up a chair beside her. Her mother would've been horrified at the thoughther in a strip club, in the light of daybut Nadia stayed, sipping the watery drinks slowly. Never the skinny, young girlsthe club saved them for weekends or nightsjust older women thinking about grocery lists and child care, their bodies stretched and pitted from age. The bartender shrugged at her fake ID and mixed her a drink and she sat in dark corners, sipping rum-and-Cokes and watching women with beat bodies spin on stage. ![]() Her father propped his sadness on a pew, but she put her sad in places no one could see. He went to both services on Sunday mornings, to Wednesday night Bible study, to Thursday night choir practice although he did not sing, although practices were closed but nobody had the heart to turn him away. Her father had flung himself into Upper Room. In the darkness of the club, you could be alone with your grief. ![]()
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