This is how my mind works

by Tricia Dower

A headline, “Barristas in Bikinis,” got me thinking I hope women aren’t having to tart themselves up again to get a job in this down economy which sucked me back to the ‘70s and the apartment complex I lived in which was pretty much a ghetto for single moms because it had a daycare center and a group of little boys prowled the hallways, knocking on our door at any hour asking for my son which led him to say he wasn’t hungry anymore if we were eating because he wanted to prowl with them which led me to draw a picture of pigs at a trough and tell them when you see that picture on the door, we’re eating, so don’t knock, okay, and the pretty mom of two of those boys waitressed at a bar which made her wear fishnet stockings and a tight little skirt that barely covered her whatsis and the fact that she couldn’t get a different job made her cranky which led to her yelling at her ex in the lobby of our building when he came to pick up the boys and we all got to hear and the only time I wore fishnet stockings was on Halloween about 15 years later when I was a single mom again and Colin who lived next door invited me to a party to which I wore a French Maid’s costume which my daughter who was in high school didn’t know I was going to wear and when she showed up at the party with one of her friends she said “Mom!” This is how my mind works which sometimes makes it difficult to make it all the way through the news.

I’m reading tonight, March 19, in Nanaimo at the Acme Food Company in the Bombay Lounge which sounds slightly sleazy but I won’t be wearing fishnet stockings. If you’re in Nanaimo, do stop in. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., 14 Commercial Street.