Salesman

The Stranger came several nights, after the first. He sat at the bar, but he looked immediately for me. He smiled – and his eyes started smiling, too. He was always kind and soon I discovered he could be also funny. He didn’t like drinking too much, but he ordered on purpose, to stay longer and to make me happy. He asked me questions, about my life at the bar, but he never showed a morbid curiosity about what I did with other customers. He said very nice things to me. He sounded sincere, he never overdid it.

I also wanted to know about him, but he never offered much information. I asked him about his job: he said “he sold stuff”. But I think he was lying – he didn’t seem a salesman, he didn’t speak like one.

I don't know why he came so often. I guess he had some assignment in town and The Fish Bowl offered him the chance to decompress after a long day at work. At first he didn't stay very long, he seemed always very tired and wanted to go to bed rather early. He was not staying at the hotel, I was sure of it, but he never really told me where he spent the rest of the night, where he went to sleep.

His conversation started to change. At the beginning, he spoke about very generic things: the weather, sport, the drinks of the bar. Then he started making comments about me - my makeup or my dresses. He seemed interested in showing me that he noticed ME, that he cared about the way I looked. Yes, after some visits he was not simply being corteous, he was... flirting!