The boy, driving, on his way from U Vic to Calgary, stops to visit..
Only for a day, so while we're both exhausted I take him to the "Spirit Bar". And the women are circling him like sharks...one of the joys of the Kootenays is that there seems to be around 2 women to every guy, a benefit the boy is quick to realize...
I disappear, let him schmooze, talk to a friend of a friend, she's lived here a year, can't get a job, volunteers with a circus school, the addictions center, the music's loud and sometimes I'm not sure if I'm having the conversation I think I'm having, or maybe she's high, or maybe I am, I don't smoke but there's enough of it in the air, on the street, in the water, it's gotta be taking it's toll...
Leaving the club, the boy's exhilarated..."You like?" I enquire, "Do you mind if I come back to visit next week...?" he asks me, and I take this to mean it's a success...Nelson in general, the bar in particular, now only to change the circumstances of my tenure here...