Lady’s Night

How did they end up here? Or perhaps the question was really, how did they ever make it this far?

To be back at Tony’s. The romantic idealism surrounding the underdog from the wrong side of the tracks. Once so alluring. A single strand of spaghetti the dividing line between childlike intrigue and insurmountable infatuation.

There is no going back. Both the nostalgic ideal and the brick and mortar reality are nothing more than memories. She had insisted that they bring the pups there tonight in an effort to revisit and reignite the flame that had once burned so fervently, only to find boarded up windows and an alleyway candle extinguished long ago. In lieu of her intended destination they spent the evening behind what amounted to a crime scene reenactment of Tony’s. Imitations of pieces of the original cobbled together in an attempt to achieve a cohesive narrative.

Real individuals, real family members, an actual guy actually named Tony, replaced with plastic name tags embossed with one of ten authentic Italian sounding names, five for each gender. “I’m Joh…er um i mean Giovani,” accompanied by an awkward gesticulation toward the left breast indicative of proof.

Acidic under seasoned marinara had spattered across the side of the green industrial dumpster who knows how long ago. Cheesy prerecorded human entertainment sounds spilled out into the stagnant summer heat whenever the kitchen staff opened the back door to smoke a little pot. She envied the human ability to inhale the smoke and regretted not bringing her vile of doggy Xanax. It would have numbed everything just enough to allow her to savor the boxed Chianti that the too old waitresses let her lap from their too full cups long before their shifts were over.

Tramp and the pups devoured butter drenched breadsticks while she picked at a half eaten overdressed Caesar. I’d rather be annoyed by you than adored by some purebred she’d often joked, but tonight she stifled a whimper as she attempted to channel the fleeting highs of the collar free lifestyle that had drawn her in so quickly and so concretely.