Nobody's Place: Haunting Laughter

         It was just another night at Nobody's Place. Joe was in his usual spot behind the bar and was serving up a flaming shot. As he lit the match, the song on jukebox ended, and he heard a woman laughing. The sound stopped his heart and he froze until the heat of the match reached his fingertips..

         It was her laughter. Joe hadn't heard it in years. In fact, the last time he had heard it he wasn't even a bartender yet.

         Joe was barely twenty years old, Chrissy was eighteen and they were waiting tables together at a diner. They clicked like matching puzzle pieces, but only as friends, and Joe figured anything more was unlikely. He had grown up a nerd and she was a typical cheerleader. He was first outgrowing his shyness and she didn't know the meaning of the word. While completely drawn to her lovely features, it was her laugh that continually broke Joe's heart. He longed to hold her as she laughed and continually entertained her just to hear the sound.

         She had just started college and invited Joe to come to one of her dormitory parties. Loaded with truth serum that came in cheap beer cans, he revealed his feelings. She smiled and then she laughed. Before he could frown at this unwanted response, she kissed him. Joe spent the night and awoke, smiling, after she had left for class. Totally unfamiliar with this experience, he left a short note about having a great night and seeing her later at work. She never showed up for her shift.

         She never showed up for another shift again and disappeared from the college. After awhile Joe quit that job, and it's memories, and started bartending. The memory, always sad, tugs his heart strings but reminds him that it started him on the road toward Nobody's Place.

         Blowing out the match, Joe came back to the present. He served the flaming shot and forgot to collect for it. When he turned to find the source of the laughter it had stopped and he found nothing. As Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When" started playing on the jukebox, Joe moved to the other end of the bar to serve a new customer. He saw her freeze as he approached. It was her and he immediately thought of Rick in "Casablanca."

         They made some small talk as she drank a Miller Lite but they clearly both yearned for more than that. She promised to remain after close and Joe went about the rest of the night distracted. He was going to have to hire another bartender if he ever wanted to step out from behind the bar.

         The last of the staff finally left so Joe grabbed a Miller Lite and a Heineken and joined her at a table. She was still too beautiful and he sat down with a guarded heart knowing she could read this on his face. He told her of his travels and his dream come true in opening "Nobody's Place." She told him the story of her life.

         She was married with four kids. Her husband, who she doesn't love, fathered all of her kids including the first. The one she was pregnant with when Joe last saw her. The one that led her to drop out of college and get married. She said she hadn't wanted Joe to know and thought it best to disappear. She left with the memory of their one night together to keep her warm on lonely nights as she lay next to her cold husband. She wondered out loud how life would have been if Joe had let his feelings known sooner. The conversation was bittersweet at best and Joe's heart was again breaking for her, but for a very different reason.

         How the night ended is not important. What time she left and whether or not they went upstairs to Joe's apartment is irrelevant. What is important is that he has one more night filled with Chrissy's laughter to keep him warm on lonely nights as no one lays next to him. It was just another night at Nobody's Place, but the beer flowed a little more slowly for awhile and, for once, having the bar wasn't enough to occupy his thoughts.