In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

Selina’s Job

BARBARA CHIASSON

I was walking along a dark street in Southern Alabama, the heat so intense that it made your skin so hot and clammy you just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere you could catch even a breath of fresh air to cool your body down. As I walked along one of the side alleys, I could hear music in the distance. I continued to walk further and got closer to hear the sound of clapping and hollering. It was a strip bar. As I continued to proceed with inquisitiveness to the building, I also started to feel a little unsure of my surroundings. I did not recognize anyone. There inside a blue, smoke filled room, dancing on a runway was this dark complicated girl in her early thirties. I thought from looking at her that she would have been from these parts. Her skin was so shiny with the oils that had been rubbed all over her body, and from the glow of the coloured light made her skin glisten. I asked another patron, “Do you know what her name is?”

“It’s Selina, a young girl who lives with her parents just down the next block from here…” Selina was a very beautiful southern girl with shapely long slender legs, a voluptuous bosom and a petite waist. Selina’s husband had died of cancer just short of three years ago. This was the only kind of job that she could get, as she had not finished her schooling and did need to support herself. She appeared to be a smart, happy-golucky person. She was a very agile and strong willed girl also, and very alluring to the male population. It was St. Patrick’s Day here in Alabama. While other girls changed costumes and walked out onto the stage, Selina strutted onto the walkway wearing a costume made from the leaves of a philodendron, cut out in the shape of shamrocks and held together with pieces of string. She even had a top hat to go with the occasion. As she began to dance around the tables, she encountered what she thought to be a familiar looking face through the blue smoke filled room. The lights lent a strange, almost eerie aura. While looking, Selina spotted Shawn, a friend she had gone to school with about 12 years ago. His face looked the same; he was a nice looking guy, her age, tall, sexy. Their eyes locked together as she started to perform her act. So as she moved, hair swaying, rolling body to the sensual sound of music, she noticing Shawn moving to the beat with her. Her heart started to race, and she felt her blood pump to all the areas that would have so excited. The crowd hollered and clapped as Shawn joined her on the stage. They danced and swayed to each other’s moves and both ended up doing a duo strip dance that sent the crowd crazy. There was definitely something there between them. Now they are there working at the same bar in Alabama enjoying the fun and excitement with each other.