A few moments in my life and then some…
The noise outside on Alenby Street is persistent. It never stops - lifeblood of the city. Buses, motorbikes, drunkards, punks and burgoise; they all fill the veins of this part of town. I leave my apartment and head downstairs. Kikar Magen David is right across from the Freeland. The Freeland Rock Bar, the place I work at. I cross the street and dodge traffic, barely running straight into a scooter whose drive has blatantly decided to use the sidewalk as his primary way of passage. I barely register this and take the last few steps towards the bar.
Inside, the lights are glaring. The place isn’t open yet and the spotlights are on to illuminate the place for a better view. Last night at the bar was quite busy; patrons kept coming in until the late hours and refused to leave until the last one of them was either out of money or their senses. It has certainly left its marks on the furniture, the floor and the bar counter. I climb underneath the counter and enter my kingdom - the world of beer taps, bills, countless bottles of liquor, lemon shards and the hallowed cash register.
I begin to prepare for tonight. The fridges have to be refilled, the gas bottles and beer kegs have to be replaced. The counter has to be polished and all the advertising logos have to be lit. In the background, the big plasma television is showing an episode of CSI Miami. It is 21:30 by now and it has taken me half an hour to get done with most of the preparations.
A few minutes later the bright spotlights are killed and the sombre, red-tinted overhead lighting is turned on with a dimmer switch. Life outside of this job moves into a hazy distance as I delve into a different world, the worlds and paradigms of hundreds of different patrons colliding and concentrating until they threaten my own grip on reality as they share their lives with the bartender, with me.
The first patrons start to arrive between ten and half past ten. On the television Horatio from CSI Miami, says something smug. He would have made a far better Great Prince, albeit a contemporary one. I mute the television and turn on the music. The DJ doesn’t arrive until twelve and until then I entertain the bar with my private CD collection. Over the next few hours, until six o’clock in the morning, I perform a circus act. Its sheer acrobatics, a careful balancing act of juggling bills, treading softly around the tempers of intoxicated patrons and keeping up a cheerful demeanor.
“My mother is fighting with my girlfriend again. You wouldn’t believe what happened last thursday…”
His voice trails off. I don’t even listen anymore. Its just one of the guys again, sitting at the bar, washing down his fourth pint and vomiting out his soul. It won’t be long until more solid things follow. Somewhere in my peripheral vision, I can see the new waitress. I have to keep an eye on her. None of the other new ones made it for longer than a few days. This one may prove promising.
The hours pass and before long my shift is over. Exhaustion has taken me far enough to not notice it anymore. We clean up the bar and the television stays off, the music has died and the sun is rising. Outside the birds begin their cacophony of chirps and caws. Any other person would have welcomed the song of these little creatures. To me, however, its merely a sign that I am not living the life I want; a regular life where the birds sing to wake me up. Now they are singing my lullaby.
The next morning I awake at one o’clock in the afternoon. Feeling numb and swollen, I crawl out of bed and sit down in front of my computer. It is eight in the evening the next time I look at the watch. I have been studying. We all have priorities and mine have been burried under a heap of pretentions, failed relationships and a deceiving film noir that has defined my life for so long.
These days my perspective has changed and my goals are defined. I will become a successful business woman working in the higher echelons of a tourism corporation. I will travel the world, bring business to places nobody thought possible and give my contribution to a world I have long dreamed of. I picture myself at the long, ebony meeting room table accompanied by other professionals, discussing future marketing stratagems for far easter countries. I picture myself at the head of that table. Once I graduate magna cum … wait. Wrong film noir. I lean back and stare at the screen. The cursor is blinking at the end of this very sentence as my fiance walks into the apartment, having finished work for today. He kisses me and takes off his coat. He will make me a toast sandwitch and then sit with me before I have to go to work - across the road at the Freeland Rock Bar.
My name is Dee and when I grow up, I will be successful.
