Close Call.

The b.h. had an old friend from out of town stop in on Friday. We both went to work in the morning and then met at the Flicker bar for a drink while we waited for J to meet us.
When J arrived we went to pick up some dinner at La Pari11a before heading back to the house. We placed our order to go, and I took J over to F0xz Tavern for a beer while we waited for our food. J Hasn't visited Athens in years, and my thought was that if you're only passing through, a drink at Foxz has a lot of bang for your touristy buck. The place is an institution, and even though it has moved to a new location in recent years, it brought with it all of the funk (as in filth, not "tha funk" or "da funk") and weirdness that makes it unique.
The b.h., knowing full well that he would not be able to procure a non-alcoholic beer at said tavern, went to the liquor store, saying he would meet us back at the restaurant.
J and I walked in and made our way around the bar, through a haze of cigarette smoke, pulling up two stools on the far side between the bar and the karaoke stage. We ordered a couple of beers. It took me several minutes to realize that there was an unusually old crowd in there, even for Happy Hour. I think there may have been two or three other people in there under the age of fifty. Not that fifty is old, mind you- it's just a rather high median age for that bar with that many people in it. Most of the women were particularly dolled up, and normally I would have assumed that it was because they had just come from work, but they were showing an awful lot of cleavage. A lot of very tan, very wrinkly cleavage. I found it curious, but not necessarily worth mentioning, so I didn't. I explained to J that this place was the home of lesbian softball teams, bikers, old grizzled racist redneck guys, drag queens, college students, lefty nutjobs, drug addicts, and any other person brave enough to stay after they've wandered in. The bartenders are funny and patient and generous. Except when they're angry and mean, which is all the more entertaining. In short, it's a great place to drink. There was a guy on the other side of J that seemed like he wanted our attention, possibly to get in on the conversation, but I wasn't feeling up to it (because we were only there for a quick drink) so I avoided eye contact and kept on talking directly to J. He told me about his favorite dive in Pheonix, and about the excellent dive he had been to in Austin two nights previous. The karaoke was just getting started as we finished our beers, thanked the bartender, and headed back to get our food.
Last night I mentioned that visit to my good friend M. His eyes got real wide for a split second and he said

"Aw man, that was First Friday, wasn't it?"

There was a long pause, and then I shuddered.

The local Swingers Club meets there on the first Friday of every month.