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"I wanna braid your hair, Mister" - Date with fate post 82
This entry was posted on 12/8/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
There are times in life when dignity falls by the way. And if you live long enough, that dignity will take plenty of bruises over the years. One such night I found myself at one of my usual haunts of debauchery. Along comes a bartender I know from another gin mill. It was a warm November night. I remember said bartender and a few other stragglers decided to hit a subsequent location of revelry around the corner. I noticed my bartender pal was walking barefoot on this warm fall night as she and the rest of us all made the pilgramage around the corner.
Once we reached our destination it dawned on me this joint was a place I rarely frequented. But, this night I pulled up a seat - something I also rarely do because I prefer to lean against the bar. None-the-less, the barefoot bartender and the gaggle I came in with, branched off to their respective doings - mainly the drinking of alcohol, talking loud, and feeling no pain.
As I have been known to do, I sat and pondered the crowd. I looked up and realized I had ordered yet another beer. I and my latest beer were well into the process of bonding. Suddenly, a hand was at my shoulder just in my peripheral vision - blurred as it was. I hesitated for a moment as I noticed the hand had painted finger nails. The painted fingers of the hand were feeling the texture of my longish and graying hair.
Jolted into reality, I looked at the source of the hand. There sitting adjacent to me was a women I guessed might be 30 years old or so. She was not gorgeous, but neither was she unattractive. She was not petite, but neither was she heavy. She had wavy brown hair that fell about her fall jacket.
"I sure would like to braid your hair, Mister," she said, and looked with due diligence at the hair between those painted fingers .
My brain processed her words. And, I focused on the woman. Over her shoulder I notice a couple of men about her age and that were preoccupied with a video game of some sort - not my cup of tea.
"Your husband will pop my head like a grape," my mouth said and I nodded toward the video game playing dudes. My ears heard the slurred words I had stumbled over.
"I don't pay much attention to him these days," she said. And then she smiled and said again, "I'd like to get my hands on that hair of yours."
Here was a scenario men day dream about..., but of course it never really happens. A rather attractive woman was offering to play with my hair. My blurred brain concocted all sorts of scenarios.
What if this woman and the two guys with her, were up to some kind of a scam? What if she was the lure and maybe the guys would then bop me on the head with a pipe and take my money?
What if this woman was one of those nuts that likes to cause her man to get jealous and then she would revel as he thrashed me within an inch of my life.
I downed my beer and ordered another and quickly downed that one too. Then I turned to the woman.
She smiled at me again and said, "Well, what's it gonna be Mister? Are you gonna let me braid that beautiful hair of yours?"
My mind had a cognizant, witty, and wry answer at the ready. I listened with profound interest and smugness as my brain instructed my voice to dazzle this woman with the quick-witted response. I was after all, a seasoned and well-traveled older gentleman and tavern goer.
And then, as if Tourette Syndrome suddenly besieged me, the words spilled out of my pie hole like projectile diarrhea....,
"I'v vha say dis hat hair for so shen today braid soooon and wha to yuu where beer?" I slurred
She paused a second as if assessing the possibility she had just solicited a rambling paranoid schizophrenic. She smiled, raised one eyebrow, got up from her stool, and patted my hand like a nurse might do to a patient in an old folks' home. Then she nodded at her two dudes who miraculously seemed to see her signal even though their eyes appeared to be locked on the video game screen. They obediently halted the game and followed her out of the tavern, passing by me as if I were an empty beer bottle on the bar.
I never saw the hair-braiding chick again.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Sergeant Chad Michael Allen, 25, Maple Lake, Minnesota (north eastern Wisconsin family connections), died on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 in Nahiah, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was killed in combat operations. Sergeant Allen was assigned to 1st Platoon, Company A, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs notes that Marine Sergeant Chad Allen was laid to rest at the Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spooner, Wisconsin, which is near his parents home in Danbury, Wisconsin.
The Web site militarytimes.com siting information from the Associated Press notes Chad Allen entered the Marines in 2003, although he enlisted just after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Sergeant Allen was on his second deployment in Iraq and was scheduled to leave the Marines on May 1, of 2007, according to his family.
The information posted on the militarytimes.com site also says Chad Allen is the second of four children; he grew up in Maple Lake, Minnesota where he also graduated from high school in 2000. He had been homecoming king. Before he entered the Marines he worked for a car wash and a landscape company. Fishing and motorcycle riding were two of his favorite interests.
The Web site marine.togetherweserved.com notes Allen's battalion was based in Rawah, Iraq, a city of 30,000 people that is 150 miles northwest of Baghdad along the Euphrates River. Some of their work involved helping the Iraqi people to stabilize the region and develop the Iraqi Security Forces. Allen had extended his enlistment contract in order to deploy to Iraq with the battalion. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the beginning of February 2007.
Minnesota Public Radio posted an article stating Allen had volunteered for a second tour of duty in Iraq to take the place of an injured fellow Marine. Allen's hometown of Maple Lake is a small city of around 1,700 residents and about 45 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Allen was remembered as an upbeat, energetic, determined, diligent, and disciplined student. He played on the Maple Lake football team where was an offensive guard and defensive linebacker. He also ran track. The Public Radio article quotes close acquaintances as saying Chad Allen wanted to get into the police force but being short of the funds to facilitate the training, entered the military instead.
Chad M. Allen was born on September 2, 1981. At the time of his death he was survived by his parents Stephen and Deborah Allen; sister Linell (Christopher) Haux and niece Kayla; brothers Ryan Allen and Brandon Allen; his fiancee Mandy Frost; Frost's parents Randall and Diana Frost; and, grandparents Marlys Ericson, and Dale (Judy) Langanki.
Marine Sergeant Chad M. Allen is the 100th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that has died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
103,818 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,486 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1848 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
972 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,226 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,969 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
151 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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