I was driving to Toulon the other day to drop my kids off at my ex-wife's and I saw that they were tearing down the old Wanee Farm. It was a pretty nice restaurant and a bar back in it's heyday. Of course I really hadn't spent much time there in the last 20 years.
ON my 23rd birthday I went out with Jane, a girl I had seen a couple of times. We went to all the bars in Kewanee. We would walk in and announce it was my birthday and I would get a free drink for simply living to see another year.Almost a year to the day earlier I had been dumped by a girl I intended to marry, and I thought this was a nice way to get over that event and have some fun. The last place we went was the Wanee Farm..
When we walked in it was very quiet. Other than an old man sitting alone( making love to his tonic and gin. Not a pretty picture) the only other people there was the bartender, and a blonde girl who made me sad I was out on a date. She was wearing a tight tiger print dress and 5 inch heels. ( being only 5 foot even she needed every inch)She gave me a smile and then went back to her drink.
Jane and I sat at the other end of the bar. When the Bartender came over Jane asked ,"Hey it's my friend's birthday can he get a free drink?"The Bartender replied,"I'm sorry we don't do that here." Suddenly the Girl In 5 Inch Heels shouted out, "It's my birthday too!" She walked slowly over and sat next to me and smiled. She told the bartender to buy me a drink.It turned out the Girl In 5 Inch Heels was born the same day as I was. We even figured out we were only a couple of hours apart. She kept buying me drinks all night.
I was so enthralled by her that I didn't notice two things until the end of the night.
One. She never paid a dime for the drinks she was "buying me"
Two. Jane.
When the bartender called "last call" the Girl in 5 Inch Heels told him to shut up and go sit down. The Burly 6 foot some guy looked at her and then did what she said. I looked at her with a ,"How the heck did you do that " look."My Grandpa owns the place."
After several hours of talking I was reminded that I had indeed started the evening with a another girl. ( It could have been the slight coughing behind me , or the persistant finger jabbing in my back) I told the Girl In 5 Inch Heels that it was really nice meeting her and I hoped I'd see her around. And with that Jane and I left.On the short drive back to Kewanee Jane naively asked me, "You don't like that girl do you? I think she's bad news."
"No", I said. "I just think it's cool she's got my birthday. Isn't that weird?"
And with that short conversation three things happened for the first time.
1. A friend ( or family member, or member of the law enforcement community) tried to warn me that the Girl In 5 Inch Heels was bad news.
2 I ignored the friend's ( or family member, or member of the law enforcement community's) advice.
3 I lied to a friend ( or family member, or member of the the law enforcement community) about the Girl In 5 Inch Heels.
Even as I spoke to Jane I was planning on breaking my date with her on friday and doing something with the Girl In 5 Inch Heels.
I don't believe it was on our first date, but it was one of the earlier ones where she said she was a heartbreaker and I better be careful. My response was at once cocky, and stupid. I told her in order to break my heart she would have find all the pieces , mend it back together and then she'd be free to break it again.
She smiled and said ,"ok".
I foolishly thought she was joking.
Now I'm not going to go into specifics here ( I'm not quite sure what the statute of limitations are in this state.) but the Girl In 5 Inch Heels was true to her word. Even nine months later when the smoke had cleared ( a bit. It was hazy for years) and I crawled away to college, she wasn't finished with me. I would get a new girlfriend and like bird of prey she would swoop in and destroy that relationship. ( Once she even swooped in to destroy the new exgirlfriends, new boyfriend because new exgirlfriend made a mean comment about the Girl In 5 Inch Heels)
I don't think I was out of her shadow for over 4 years. Sometimes people would say, "Hey the Girl In 5 Heels is back in town." I would either leave or close the curtains and turn off the lights and pray she wouldn't stop by. ( Yet insanely there would be a small part of me hoping she would stop by because after all wasn't life just a little boring right now) Girlfriends would laugh at my fears and tell me she was nothing compared to them. then the Girl In 5 Inch Heels would stop by ( Just to say Hi!) and soon I would have an new ex girlfriend.
There's a woman In Chicago that probably still jumps everytime you mention the Girl In 5 Inch heels name.
The other effect of being with her was I was never really free to eat or drink in the Wanee Farm again. My Dad would say , "Hey let's go to the Wanee Farm for Easter Lunch!" The whole family would get into cars and go. I would eat at KFC by myself.(Well actually I did go once, on the night of my wedding. But I was still very nervous.)
For years I worried about the Girl In 5 Inch Heels. She would haunt my dreams and nightmares. High heels went from being a turn on to me to a source of terror. I started dating girls that wore flats. ( with one noticeable exception)
Then one day the Girl In 5 Inch Heels stopped by my mother's boarding home for the elderly to visit her grandmother. My wife was working for my Mom at the time.
Perhaps it helped that the Girl In 5 Inch Heels was wearing tennis shoes.
Perhaps it helped that my wife was almost 6 feet tall.
Perhaps it helped that my wife was very beautiful and the Girl In 5 Inch Heels was looking a bit .....worn.( Say what you will about the end of my marriage but Angie was very beautiful. I've got photo's to prove it!)
But when I looked at this tiny girl next to my tall, confident and beautiful wife I couldn't help but think..,"This...this is what I've been frightened of?" And just like that I wasn't afraid of her anymore. Before my eyes she shrank to even smaller then she really was.
And what did I learn by all that?
Two Things.
That I should really listen to my friends( and Family and members of the law enforcement community) more. When they say that a girl is bad for me I should stop seeing her.
And.......The world is full of restaurants. Not eating at the Wanee Farm was a small price to pay for dating the Girl In 5 Inch Heels for eight gloriously horrible wonderfuly distructive months.

It seems I never really learn life's true lessons. Perhaps this is where my bad restaurant Karma stems