Sarah

   Sarah was jolted from her sleep by the blare of her alarm clock. She rolled out of bed and padded towards the bathroom. After showering and getting dressed, she made breakfast, sat down and turned on the news. More of the same old shit! She just shook her head and ate. The only saving grace, in her eye, was that it was Friday and in eight hours she would own the weekend.

She took the bus into work, at least today it seemed less crowded. She did her work proficiently, talked with Sally and Jack during lunch and when quitting time rolled around she left her work space clean and tidy. She walked from her office building downtown to the shopping center nearby where she bought the new outfit that was going to make her weekend special.

When she got home she had supper and then she tried on her new clothes. She modeled for herself. She was still hot at forty and this black leather dress was her gift to herself. She poured a glass of wine and then phoned her friend Joan.

“We still on for tomorrow night?” she asked after Joan answered.

“We sure are Sarah. You’re going to love this place. It’s the hottest club to open since Mickey Mouse’s,” Joan replied comically.

“I just hope it stands up to all your hype,” Sarah stated. “I remember the last time I went to a dance club. I was in collage. The joint may have been jumping for all the others. But I felt like jumping off of the roof.”

“Oh it couldn’t have been that bad Sarah. I think you over reacted,” Joan offered.

“Yeah. Well, I was there Joan. I know what happened,” Sarah remarked.

“Okay Sarah. I’ll pick you up at seven. Luv you,” Joan said before hanging up.

“Yep. See you tomorrow,” Sarah said and then disconnected the call.

That next morning Sarah decided to walk down to the market. She put on a pair of suntan pantyhose, white spandex body suit, jeans and sandals before going out. George from down the hall complimented her as she walked by. She blushed as she was twenty years older than him.

Sarah picked up her groceries and made her way back towards her apartment building. As she walked someone bumped into her and knock some items from her bag. She was attempting to pick them up as the crowd hustled past. They cussed her as she was sitting there picking up her items.

“Move it!” one woman bellowed as she knocked an item into the street.

“Watch where you’re going!” Sarah yelled back at her as she scrambled to retrieve her things.

Over three hundred thousand men and women in the naked city and not one person stopped to help.

“Where are the Boy Scouts when you need one?” she muttered as she headed for home.

Sarah rinsed of the fruits and vegetables and put them away and then she put the other items away where they belonged. After lunch she settled down on the couch to watch a movie. When she woke up it was nearly five pm. She showered and then got ready to go out to the club. Joan phoned at six forty five and told her that she was downstairs waiting for her. She was ready and she locked up and headed down. They hit the club and it was jamming. It was all that Joan had made it out to be and more. Sarah danced with several guys and they bought her a few drinks as well. But when it came time to go home it was just Sarah. Joan had hooked up with some guy and they called Sarah a cab and paid for it.

“How was the club Miss?” the cabby asked as he drove along.

“Pretty good,” Sarah replied without thinking.

When they pulled up to her building the cab driver jumped out and opened the door for her.

“Thank you,” she said and palmed him a five dollar bill.

“Thank you Miss. Have a good evening,” He said and then drove away.

“Apparently not tonight. Is it to much to ask for a decent guy every once in a while?” she asked as she headed towards the elevator.

The next morning she put on the same outfit and headed for church. Oh yeah. Just in case you’re wondering. The dress was a black leather number, long sleeves and a knee length hem so it was conservative in nature. But still. Sarah did look hot in it.

“Good morning Sarah,” Reverend Hill offered when she arrived.

Reverend Hill made it a habit to greet his parishioners as they came in.

“Morning reverend,” she said as she entered and headed for an empty pew.

She loved this church, it was small, about fifty to sixty worshipers on any given Sunday. Sarah liked that. It felt more like a family to her than the big old church where she had been going to all her young life. After church she took a walk in the park and sat down by the duck ponds. She watched as the people hustled on by. Even on a Sunday the people couldn’t slow down or wouldn’t. She couldn’t understand why they were in such a hurry to go no where. She decided to try a little experiment, why not? She didn’t have anything else to do that day. She sat on the bench and just watched. She didn’t do or say anything to anybody. She wanted to see how long it would take before somebody, anybody, noticed her just sitting there alone.

Eleven o-clock, nothing. Twelve o-clock, still nothing. This went on all afternoon. She sat on that bench and not one person seemed to take notice.

“HEY!” she cried out. “Am I invisible here?”

One man did tip his hat as he quickly ran off. She got up and started walking home. She felt as alone in this city filled with hundreds of thousand people as she would have had she been floating on an empty see.

God how she missed her old home town right now…