I’ll never forget the day I met my country girl.
I arrived in Nashville, Tennessee two days ago. The first night I spent in my hotel, The Doubletree, just off Jefferson Street on 4th Avenue North. It had been a long flight from Ontario and an even longer one from London, so I decided that a night in front of the TV with the mini bar would suffice, rather than hitting the bars.
Last night though, I decided to check out the local bars and taverns - that’s when I saw her.
It was at a place called Johnny’s, a little hillbilly bar a few blocks down from my hotel on Broadway, next to Hard Rock Café. Everybody there seemed to be dressed in boots, jeans, checked shirts, leather or suede jackets and Stetson hats. I walked over to the bar.
‘Howdy son,’ the bar tender greeted me with a bright smile. ‘What’ll it be?’
‘Um, beer, thanks.’
‘You ain’t from round here, huh?’
‘Nope, just got here.’
‘You’re English, right?’ The bar tender asked, setting down a pint sized glass mug full of beer.
‘Yep. Arrived in Canada last week to visit some friends, then arrived here two days ago,’ I answered, handing him a ten dollar bill.
‘And whatcha up to all the way down here?’
‘Looking for inspiration - I’m a writer.’
‘Oh yeah? What kinda stuff d’you write about?’
‘This and that, a few horror novels. To be honest I havn’t really thought about what to write about for this one.’
‘Well I’m sure you’ll think of something.’
‘I hope so,’ I smiled and wandered off to find a table, after accepting my change.
Half an hour later, just as I was starting my second drink of the night, she walked onto the stage. I was instantly mesmerized. She was beautiful. Long blonde hair and an angelic face complete with big, blue eyes and thin, red lips. Her long, smooth legs protruded from her denim mini skirt and her blue and white checked shirt was tied by its bottom corners to form a bra style top. As far as I could tell she wore nothing beneath it. On her head she wore the obligatory cowboy hat.
‘Howdy y’all,’ she hollered into the microphone. ‘My name’s Suzie and I’m gonna be playing a few tune’s for y’all to dance along with,’ she said before picking up her guitar. I gazed at her for the next hour as she strummed on her guitar and sang along in her sweet southern voice. She sang of love and loss, happiness and pain, acceptance and rejection. After the first half an hour it looked as if she was about ready to drop. It was a hot night, and it showed. Her face, chest and belly glistened with sweat; her damp hair was beginning to slick back, flat against her scalp. But she carried on going until she’d come to the end of her gig.
When she finished she disappeared from the stage and headed to the back of the building. I thought that was the last I’d see of her that night. Luckily I was wrong.
Later that night I was stood at the bar ordering my sixth drink of the evening, when Suzie came and stood next to me.
‘Hey,’ she said in her soft but strong accented voice.
‘Hi,’ I replied. ‘Suzie, right?’
‘Yup. And you are?’
‘Eddie,’ I replied, holding out my hand. She took it and shook it gently.
‘Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Eddie. You enjoy the show t’night?’
‘Sure did, you were great.’
‘Why thank you. Didn’t see ya dancing though.’
‘No, I’m afraid my kind doesn’t dance.’
‘Your kind?’ She asked, pronouncing kind, “kand”.
‘White English men.’
She laughed. ‘You’re funny. I bet I can getcha to dance.’
‘Oh, I doubt it.’
‘Let me try, I bet I can.’
‘I wouldn’t want to put you through it.’
‘But I wanta. C’mon, let me see’f I can do it.’
‘I…’ I didn’t get a chance to argue. She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the dance floor where a dozen other couples were dancing.
‘Nobody’ll even see ya,’ she said.
We got to the dance floor and she pulled me against her and we began to sway to the sound of Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road”.
‘There you go,’ she said. ‘And you said you couldn’t dance.’
‘I’d hardly say I’m dancing,’ I smiled.
‘Better than I used to. Take me back five year ago and I couldn’t dance worth a damn.’
‘I find that hard to believe.’
‘It ain’t nothing’ but the truth. ‘Til I started working here I had the rhythm of road kill.’
‘Well, perhaps there’s hope for me yet,’ we both laughed and carried on dancing. We continued on through to the conclusion of Copperhead Road and Keith Urban’s “Where the Blacktop ends”. When the latter finished, we went back to the bar where my drink was still waiting.
‘What are you drinking?’ I asked her.
‘Well, if you’re buying, I’ll have four fingers of Jack,’ she smiled wickedly. Luckily I knew what she meant. I nodded at the barmen to get his attention.
‘Howdy son, back for another?’
‘Not me. Give me four of JD for the lady.’
‘Certainly sir,’ he poured the drink and slid it along the bar towards us. I handed him another ten and told him to keep the change. Me and Suzie clinked our glasses together and sipped our drinks.
‘I don’t know how you can drink that stuff,’ I said.
She smirked. ‘You’re in Tennessee, you gotta drink Jack Daniels.’
I chuckled and took another swig.
‘So,’ I said. ‘How often do you play here?’
‘Few times a week. Pays the bills.’
‘You don’t have another job?’
‘I teach kids to play the six string. It don’t pay too much either, but combined with singing here, I get by OK. What brings you down to these parts?’
‘I’m working on a new novel.’
‘Ah, a writer. You done anything I might know?’
‘I doubt it. I haven’t sold much, if anything, in the States.’
‘That’s a pity. You’ll have to get me copies.’
‘Definitely.’
She smiled again. We moved to a table next to the dance floor and sat opposite each other. As I stretch out my legs, I nudged her shin by accident.
‘Sorry,’ I said.
‘What for?’ She replied and proceeded to rub her foot up my leg. I blushed and sipped my drink.
After a short silence, Suzie spoke.
‘So, when I said I didn’t see you dancing before, I did see you watching me.’
‘You were performing; of course I was watching you.’
‘Yeah but you weren’t just watching me just for the performance, were you?’
‘I…err…I guess not.’
She giggled and bashfully tucked her hair behind her ears.
‘You want another dance?’ She asked.
‘I’d rather just talk.’
‘Well in that case, you wanta take me back to your place?’
‘Oh…I…really?’
‘Uh huh.’
‘I…I don’t know.’
She sighed. ‘I know whatcha thinking.’
‘You do?’
‘Yup. You’re thinking, “I wonder how many other guys she’s said that to over the past year? After all, she said she doesn’t earn too much money; she must need a little extra for herself. Sure, I’m not bad looking, but she’s a stunner. Why would she want to come back to my place if not for a little personal gain?” Right?’
‘No. No, of course not. I mean, maybe the first part to an extent. But I don’t think you’re a hooker.’
She smirked. ‘An honest man. You wanta know how many guys I have been with in the last year?’ She didn’t give me a chance to reply. ‘None.’
‘None?’
‘Nope. In fact, I ain’t been with a guy for five years.’
‘Five years? How old…’
‘Fourteen.’
‘Fourteen. Shit. Can I ask…’
‘Let me lose on the mini bar and we’ll see,’ she said with a devilish grin.
‘Alright.’
We finished our drinks and headed back to the hotel.
At half past eleven, we were sat on the double bed in my room sipping bottles of Famous Flaming Stone and talking about nothing in particular, until Suzie changed the subject.
‘Anyway, back to me and my lack of promiscuity.’
‘You don’t have to tell me, you know.’
‘I want to.’
‘Well ok.’
‘I’ve never told anybody this, it’s kinda hard.’
‘So don’t…’
‘Shhhh! When I was eleven my daddy…err…he starting having sex with me.’
‘Jesus, Suzie. I don’t think…’
‘Please Eddie.’
‘Sorry…I…go on.’
‘Like I said, my daddy started having sex with me. He told me that it was normal and that everybody did it. I knew he was lying, but I went along with it. He could get a little violent after he’d spent most of the day slugging whisky from the bottle. It went on for about four years, my mom never tried to stop him. I knew it was because she was scared of him, but as far as I’m concerned, she was as much to blame as he was.
One day, after school, I came home and found my mom lying on the kitchen floor. She was struggling to breathe. I realized she was having a heart attack. I saw my chance. I ran up stairs and packed a suitcase. I didn’t even stop to give my mom one last look. I just left her there to die.
I hung around a few bars and cafes, playing a few tunes, earning free meals and shit like that. Then one day Johnny offered me a few permanent gigs for money, not food. He also let me use the spare room until I got myself on my feet. I been working there ever since.’
‘You live there too?’
‘No, I got a small apartment just down from here on 7th.’
‘Oh, ok. So, what happened to your father?’
‘Last I heard he got wasted on whole bottle JD, sometimes I think that’s all he drank, and fell into the river after a fight.’
‘Too bad.’
‘Right,’ she grinned. ‘Too bad no-one cleaned his clock a few years earlier.’
I smiled back. ‘Must’ve been pretty rough, on your own for the last five years.’
‘Are you kidding me? It’s been great. No one telling me what to do. No one…using me like he did. I’ve made friends; I’ve got two jobs that I love. I met you,’ another wicked smile.
‘Yeah, I guess you did.’
We stared into each others eyes, and said nothing as we kissed. It seemed to last forever and yet didn’t seem to last long enough. When we broke off, Suzie removed her blouse; she still wore nothing beneath it, and put my hands to her breasts. They were warm and soft beneath my touch.
‘Make love to me,’ she whispered as I gently brushed my thumbs over her nipples.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. Please.’
I nodded and kissed her again. After we disrobed, I lay her back on the bed. We continued kissing as our hands explored each others bodies.
Outside it had begun to drizzle, the gentle thrumming of the rain on the window ledge set a calming back beat for the rhythm of our entwined bodies. We made love until the early hours when we finally fell asleep in each others arms.
