Switch

Pharmacy with us, but she didn't bring up Jack's name,

either, so I guessed that was sort of a draw.

I let her talk on and on even though I didn't have much to

say. She didn't notice, or ignored, my lack of replies, until

finaly she hung up before I could remember to tel her I

stil had her purse. Typical. Kira was always careless with

what she had, no matter how much or how little.

At home when I wanted to drive for a while to clear my

At home when I wanted to drive for a while to clear my

head, I could have my pick of backcountry roads, winding

through cornfields and cow pastures and woods. I could

drive for hours, literaly, without crossing a major highway.

I could open the windows and let my hair blow in the wind

with the radio cranked up loud, singing along. I could lose

myself on the ribbon of asphalt and make time stand stil.

Not here. I could've found a rural road if I went out of my

way, but it would've taken more effort to do it than it was

worth. Instead, I suffered stop-and-go traffic through

urban neighborhoods with my windows roled up and my

doors locked. Harrisburg wasn't a big city, but anyone

who didn't think it had crime was a fool.

The song came on the radio just as I puled into the

parking garage. I'd just started listening to the public radio

station out of Phily. The Cure had done a cover of

Hendrix's 'Purple Haze' with a lot of funky backbeat and

some sort of weird Star Trek effect. It was an old song

and not one the local stations played.

I was transported.

'You ladies here to see the guys, right?' The guy

behind the counter gives us all a knowing wink as

behind the counter gives us all a knowing wink as

though he's seen our type before. 'Bachelorette

party?'

It's not. It's an anti-bachelorette party, a divorce party, I

guess you could cal it. I've just signed the paperwork

dissolving my marriage to Austin. For the first time since I

was seventeen years old, I'm a single woman.

I have good friends. I can be glad of that. Kira couldn't

make it tonight, but I've got Nat, Misty, Vicky and Tori.

Laurie and Anna made it, too. It was my idea to come to

see the boys dancing at the nudie bar, but they al joined

the band and jumped on the wagon as soon as I suggested

it.

The bouncer leads us past a stage with two poles on it

where two bored-looking girls teeter in slutty shoes and

wiggle lethargicaly. There's nobody in the club yet, though

there's seating for a couple hundred horny men. We folow

the bouncer to a back room, al of us giggling like maniacs

and more than a little nervous.

It's not what I expected. I'd seen the Chippendales dance,