Why you can never go back . . .

So, we were trolling Wisconsin, visiting old friends.

Hunger struck, and I mentioned a restaurant where I'd worked when I was in college, circa 1978. My tech huband had never seen the place; it was the summer he spent making a name for himself as an intern at Kodak or Xerox or some other now-defunct east coast corporation.

On the drive to the restaurant I mused about waitressing at the Home Plate Inn. Humble as it was, the place gave me experiences I just couldn't get anywhere else. I mean cool stuff, like wearing a baseball jersey while sliding over grease-slicked floors on Friday Fish Fry nights, and even cooler stuff, like trying to learn enough German to speak with the local farm boys, and then not learning enough German, which led to mixing drinks the Germans never ordered, and then having to drink those drinks myself so my employer wouldn't find the evidence of my error, which led to dumping a strawberry schaum torte on a woman wearing a white linen dress.

Well, to get to the point of the story, I can't go back to the Home Plate Inn because, as we learned when we drove up to the place, it's now a strip joint.

"You worked here?" husband joked as we drove into the lot.

I looked up at the sign (Gentlemen's Club, All Nudes). "Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you about that," I quipped, "but hey, maybe they still have the fish fry."

"I doubt it," he rejoindered.

"You think, at least maybe, they have free WiFi?"

"Not likely."

"OK, OK. Exotic male dancers? I could go for that."

He rolled his eyes. "There's a McDonalds back about five miles."

I smiled. "Well, they do have that senior discount cup of coffee. You know, I used to work at this place."

"Yep. I'll save a mental image of you pole dancing with a platter of cod, for later." He winked suggestively.

"Fine, honey, but don't forget I also served cole slaw with that. Cole slaw has so many possibilities. And french fries."

After all, a man who doesn't read romances, even the books his wife writes, needs a fantasy ;-)

More about the controversial gentlemen's club in Lebanon, Wisconsin.