Ticket To Ride: Reloaded

It had been my second time in Vegas, and definitely the more memorable of the two. The first time was a day as part of a teen tour when I was 15; we went to Circus Circus, played video games and pinball, had a great buffet lunch, and that's all I remember.

The second time, I was 26, and it was for a sales conference when I was in the water filter business. Vegas is a great city to go to for a sales conference, but probably not the best place for a sales conference. I think I might have gone to one or two of the meetings; the rest of my time was mostly spent trying to win money and hoping to get laid.

On the first, I wasn't successful in that I didn't, but I was in that I didn't go over budget trying. On the second, I came close (pun inevitable) a couple of times, the third time being the charm. First off, I went to one of those places that pretended to be a bar, met a lovely young lady who chatted me up quite eloquently, and was informed by the barmaid that I could share a bottle of bubbly with the young lady in a private room  for a mere $400, gratuities not included. I politely declined, and went on my way.

After that, I went to an actual bar, met a not-quite-as-lovely-but-good-enough young lady who chatted me up much more abruptly and informed me that she would like to spend some time with me in a motel room which she would pay for with a credit card she happened to come by (pun irresistible), but she just needed $30 first to procure some powdered refreshments. Since it was a mere $30, I obliged, and waited patiently after she said she'd be right back, until I finally gave up and called it a night - my last in Vegas to this day.

The next morning, the sales conference I had  not attended most of having ended, and disappointed that I had neither won money nor gotten laid during my stay in Sin City, I packed my suitcase, checked out, and headed on my way to drop off the rental car and catch the shuttle to the airport. Along that way, while slowing down for a red light, a lovely young lady who had been walking along the sidewalk turned to look at me, then chatted me up in the form of a gesture that means "I want to get into a car with a stranger."

Since her thumb was out and I was now stopped at the red light, I obliged in the form of a gesture that means, "Come on baby take a chance with me." Once in the car, she informed me that she would like to go to a motel with me. To my surprise, she did not want money or refreshments of any sort, but really just wanted to go to a room and have some fun. My skepticism vanished at the next red light, when she asked, very politely, if it would be okay if she kissed me. Of course I obliged, and it was better than okay. Eventually, the nice motorist behind us informed me that the light had turned green, and we were off to the first motel that we could find.

Ever-conscious of the importance of personal hygiene, I suggested that we take a bath, which we did, during which we talked. She told me her name was Lisa (which is rare for me to remember after so many years), and she seemed really very nice, really very down on her luck, and really very hornier than both combined. By which I mean not just physically horny, but emotionally horny as well, if that is a thing. It must be, because I felt the same way.

Thus, for the next couple of hours, we were lovers. Not just sex partners, but lovers - two lonely people who, for that little slice of Now, erased each others' loneliness. During that brief time, the world outside that room - the world in which we were strangers who had just met - did not exist. In that room, we had always been lovers, and always would be.

Eventually, it was time for me to drop off the rental car and catch my flight (which I did just in time). I left her in the room, which I had paid for the day. We did not entertain the notion of me missing my flight, we did not exchange phone numbers (I don't even know if she had one), we did not pretend that we would ever see each other again. We just said "I love you" and kissed good-bye, as it always had been and always would be in the eternity that was the inside of that room.

It had not been my first one-night-stand (or one-morning-stand, as it were), nor would it be my last. But it was the only one during which I had been in love, and it was an experience of being in the Now unlike any that I would have for another 21 years or so.

But that's another story...