Writer's Commentary: But It's Better If You Do

On Post: But It’s Better If You Do

Date: January 9

Find it here

The thing about this entry is I’ve never actually been into a gentlemen’s club, strip club, topless bar, whatever you’d like to call it. So, I didn’t really have an idea what one actually looks like inside.

However, I did grow up near one. Actually near several. Newington, in part because of the Berlin Turnpike, has a disproportionate amount of adult entertainment and pay by the hour motels inside its city limits. But the one I am thinking of was particularly close. Mrs. Pips Café, if I recall correctly, offered free sandwiches on Tuesdays and jell-o wrestling on Wednesdays, or so said the old wooden sign that forever sat in their parking lot. Back in the day, I could give people directions to my house if they were coming from across town by starting with the phrase “So you know where Mrs. Pips’ is, right?” And, inevitably, they would. Sadly, it closed in 1995, years before I would legally be able to enter it, and was demolished in 2002. There’s a gas station on that corner now and, while I haven’t had to give directions to that area in years, I imagine everyone would not know right away the place I spoke of.

In any case, Mrs. Pips looked like a bombed out bunker. It was brick and the white paint was flaking off its façade everywhere. There were no windows. The parking lot was sort of paved, sort of gravel, sort of dirt. Aesthetics were clearly not a priority.

So, in creating this strip club, I just sort of translate that feeling to the interior. I might be being unfair to the average joint, but I’m going to go ahead and guess that I’m not.

At some point, I feel it is inevitable I’ll end in one of these places. One of my friends will get married and this will be his bachelor party idea and I’m going to go along because, hey, that’s what friends do. And I imagine I will be as awkward as the protagonist here. I also imagine I’ll be ultimately disappointed by how average the experience is because things are never as bad or good as you picture.

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