The summer I learned to play chess

I would wake up at 3pm, take a shower, work until sometime after 10, head to the club, dance until 2am, go to the Mexican guys' house, watch them play chess until sunrise... and then I would go home to my hole-of-an-apartment and sleep... until 3pm.

I met the Mexican guys when I was a waitress at the Greeley Country Club. Miguel, Dino, Mike...? I can't remember all of their names... but one of them accidentally shot Carlos in the leg one night... Carlos was on crutches for months...

There was a busboy at the country club who would sing me songs... "I just wanna fly..." Chad Timkovich? I'll never forget him, his songs, or his blue eyes following me across the dining room...

If I wasn't playing chess, working, sleeping, dancing, or dreaming - I was writing... in my journal or on my walls... in the wee hours of the morning...listening to the silence that only resonates just before dawn...

...