The wind blows through my hair, and I can hear the boats shift and creak in the slips that litter the shore. A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets; but the dark doesn't bother me as much as it does those around me, as they rush towards our mutual destination, the bar on the next block. Or maybe they're hurrying to move past the rough-looking guy finishing his cigarette on the steps of City Hall - me.

I emerge from the oppressive dark into the dim cast by the open door of the bar. Inside, people are circling, eyeing up the other patrons, ordering the elixir that will oil the laughter for some and carry others to the edge of consciousness. The waitresses are stalking around in their matching outfits, like Barbie dolls wearing clothes they don't sell in toy stores.

Four people take the stage. The band. Tonight's entertainment. I'm not interested. I'm here to drink myself into amnesia; maybe this time I'll be able to drown the memories of the car's tail lights disappearing into the dark, the night she drove away for the last time.

The first notes reach out across the crowded room to slap my attention back to the stage. Surprise, surprise; they're not bad. A few songs later, they're good enough to make me think that maybe I should put down the old-fashioned and ask that blonde in the corner to take a spin on the dance floor. Can't live in the past forever.