A Chance Encounter

By Richard Mason Terry

He entered the bar with a great deal of reluctance. Letting it suck him into the dark interior, rather than boldly barging in. He squinted his eyes against the darkness and the acrid smell of the cigarette smoke. He hated bars. He really couldn’t remember the last time that he had been to one. But he had been lonely long enough. It was full of other lonely, desperate people. Maybe, just maybe, he could find one that could console him, if just for a little while.

He made his way to the big, mahogany bar, found an empty chair and sat down. A tall, handsome young man tending the bar ambled over and asked him for his order. He drew his credit card from his wallet and told him, “Coors, on tap, please. And start a tab for me.” The young man whisked the card away and returned quickly with a frosted mug of beer and his card.

Turning slightly in his chair, he looked the crowd over. Seemed to be lots of unattached women around. Mostly in small clusters of two, three, or four. Laughing, chattering, making small talk, enjoying the music, and the small dance floor. As always in situations like this, there was an ebb and flow. Someone would ask someone else to dance and the group would change, flowing, merging, separating, re-combining. An ever changing flux of attempts at human coupling.

Of course, they were mostly too young to interest him. He had enough of young women with no purpose and no direction in their lives. Sometimes they were pleasant to be with for a while, but he soon tired of their immaturity. Were there no women in this world with substance, character and a defined purpose to their lives? Oh, he knew a number of them. But most of them were connected to him through his work, and he just didn’t want to go there. The others were either married, unattractive, or just not interested in someone definitely hitting the middle aged category.

The young man sitting next to him leaned over and said, “Out looking for women tonight?” “Of course! Why else would a man hang out in a bar paying too much for beer and breathing bad air?” he replied. The young man laughed softly and said, “Well, plenty to choose from tonight. I’ve been here for a while, danced with a few and collected some phone numbers for later. But the best looking woman in the place is sitting on the other end of this bar. She’s been sitting by herself for almost an hour, drinking wine, and turning down every guy that’s approached her. Hell, wouldn’t even give me the time of day and I used my best lines on her!” Nodding with his head, he pointed her out to him.

Swiveling slowly in his chair, he looked up at one of the televisions over the bar and tried to glance at the object of the young man’s desire without looking too obvious. She was seated alone at the end of the bar, glass of red wine between her hands, gazing deeply into the glass. Empty seats on both sides of her attested to her desire to be alone. As he watched her, a tall, handsome young man approached her, leaned down and spoke to her. She looked up from her drink, listened intently, smiled sweetly at him and shook her head negatively. The young man took the rejection very well, smiled back at her, appeared to wish her a good evening, turned and left. The woman looked after him for a moment, gave a bit of a wistful smile and turned back to her wine glass.

“See?” the young man beside him said. “Been like that all night! She hasn’t accepted a single offer to dance or to let someone buy her a drink. Damn shame! She certainly is a looker!” He looked at her cautiously, trying to make sure to avoid any eye contact. He hated the meat shop atmosphere in these places and would certainly not want to make the woman uncomfortable by openly staring at her while he decided if she was approachable at all.

What he saw certainly appealed to him. She was a petite redhead, smartly dressed in a business suit that would be at home in a gallery opening as well as the office. Very chic, very fashionable, and very correct, but still very feminine. So very different from the mannish clothing he was used to seeing professional women in his office wear. She was much younger than him, with a beautiful face and glorious chestnut colored hair spilling down to her shoulders. Couldn’t really see much of her figure from here, but from her carriage and demeanor, it was obvious that she was a sophisticated lady of some means and intelligence. Except for her youth, she would be a definite prospect for him to consider. Maybe he should take a chance. Who knows, maybe she was here looking for him? He shook his head wryly. Yeah, sure! He was exactly the kind of catch that someone like her would be looking for! But, what the hell! Wouldn’t be the first time he had failed with a woman. Most likely wouldn’t be the last. And besides, he had always lived by the motto, “You can’t win if you don’t play the game.”

“Maybe all of you young guys are just dangling the wrong bait,.” he said to the young man. He called the young bartender over to their seats and asked, “What is the young lady at the end of the bar drinking?” “Just a house wine,” he replied. “Certainly not swill, but nothing special. But save your money. She hasn’t accepted a drink from a gentleman all night. Just sitting there, looking beautiful.” “Well, it’s my money to waste,” he said. “Give me a wine list, a pen, and a piece of paper.” he asked. The bartender turned back to the register, gathered the requested items and laid them on the bar in front of him.

With the young man seated next to him peering over his shoulder, he wrote a single question on the piece of paper and slid it back across the bar to the young bartender. The bartender read it, smiled broadly, and nodded his head vigorously. Then, he slid the paper back to him. He contemplated the wine list for a bit and picked out a moderately priced French red. He was surprised to see it on the wine list of a small town bar like this, but thought that it would do the trick quite nicely. He wrote another note on the piece of paper, took a twenty from his pocket, folded it into the paper, and slid it back across the bar to the waiting bartender. He read it and looked at the older man intently. He leaned over the bar and said in a conspiratorial tone, “You are either someone with way too much money to blow, or the most diabolically clever man I have ever met! In either case, I wish you luck and applaud your initiative!”

The young man beside him watched intently as the young bartender selected a bottle of wine from the storage rack over the bar. The bartender then reached into a drawer and removed a corkscrew and slipped it into a pocket in his apron. He pulled a white towel from a cabinet and draped it carefully over his left arm. Grabbing two long stemmed wine glasses, he strode confidently down the length of the bar and stood in front of the redhead and waited for her to acknowledge him.

She looked up at him, somewhat surprised. Her glass wasn’t empty yet, and she was deep into her thoughts. The young bartender, bowed smartly to her and set the two glasses on the bar in front of her. He presented the bottle to her laid across the towel on his left arm so that she could examine the label closely. She looked at it, and him, with obvious confusion. He spoke to her briefly, and she glanced quickly down the bar at the two men sitting there. With a sigh, she pushed her half empty glass aside and leaned over to examine the bottle of wine. After reading the label, she smiled briefly at the bartender and gestured toward the glasses.

The young bartender removed the corkscrew from his pocket and deftly cut the seal on the bottle, then removed the cork from the bottle with a great deal of flair. He removed the cork from the corkscrew and gave the woman an asking glance. She waved off examining the cork with a casual toss of her hand. Wiping the cork remnants from the neck of the bottle with his towel, he poured a small amount of the wine into one of the glasses. He then stepped back slightly and waited expectantly.

She lifted the glass and swirled it slightly, holding it up to the light so that she could see the richness of the color and look for telltale sediments that might indicate that the wine had gone bad or was poorly bottled. Lowering the glass, she lightly inhaled the aroma that was escaping from the glass. She cocked an eyebrow in what appeared to be a sign of wry amusement and smiled, ever so briefly. Raising the glass to her lips, she took a small amount into her mouth and let it play across her tongue. The look of satisfaction on her face was unmistakable, even from across the crowded bar. She motioned for the bartender to fill the glass. Then leaned over the bar and spoke softly to the bartender. He lowered his head to her ear and answered her question. She looked intently down the bar at the two men for a moment and leaned back over to the waiting bartender, who bent over low to listen to her.

The young bartender picked up the second glass and brought it and the opened bottle of wine back down the bar and set the empty glass in front of the older man. Carefully, he poured the wine until the glass was half full. He picked up the wine and swirled it slightly under his nose, inhaling the aroma. It was a good vintage, as he had expected it to be. He took a small sip and set the glass down. The bartender leaned over the bar and said, “The young lady sends her compliments on the choice of wine and requests that you join her to enjoy the remainder of the bottle.” The young man shook his head in amazement. “Man!” he said. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it! That was incredible! I have been in the presence of a master!”

The older man chuckled. “Son,” he said. “Wisdom doesn’t always come with age. And wisdom will never help a man understand a woman in any case. Sometimes, you just have to do what you want and let the chips fall where they may. If she hadn’t appreciated either the wine, or the gesture, she wouldn’t have been what I was looking for. Too early to forecast the results in any case. All I know so far is that she appreciates a good bottle of wine and an honest approach. But at least I will have the opportunity to find out. Have a good evening. And good luck to you.”

Grabbing the half filled glass of wine, he negotiated his way down the length of the bar to where the woman was sitting, the bartender keeping abreast of him behind the bar with the bottle still in his hands. The closer he got to the woman, the more he was able to see how incredibly beautiful she was. As he approached through the crowd, she gave him a warm and welcoming smile. He slid into the empty seat next to her. The bartender set the wine bottle down between them and smiling broadly, moved away.

He looked into her eyes, noting how deep her beautiful brown eyes appeared to be. They were certainly eyes that he could fall into easily. She smiled at him and leaned forward so that only he could hear what she said. “What took you so long? I’ve been here for over an hour! Bet every young buck in this place has hit on me at least once!”

“Sorry,” he said. “Got tied up at the office. Still, awful glad to see you. Seems like forever since this morning when I woke up with you in my arms.”

“Well, with a grandstand act like you just put on, you can be assured that is where I’ll be tonight and tomorrow morning as well!”