Went to that neighborhood bar with the plywood sign again.

The other week I went to that neighborhood bar with the plywood sign again the other week.

It was "dollar draft" night, and the place was full of (Mexican)s, and there was that loud (Mexican) oom-pah music with tubas playing on the jukebox.

The bartender ("Phyllis") also had a lime out and was doing tequila shots with a Mexican woman a few seats down from me, and saying to herself, "If everyone's gonna party, I'm gonna party too."

There were little neon green plastic dishes of free Chex mix everywhere, too, and after Phyllis went to help other customers, I asked the (Mexican) woman next a few stools down for me if I could have some that were in front of her, but she pointed to it and mumbled a few things, and then pushed it down to me anyways. When I went to eat some, I realized it was wet, like someone had spilled a beer in it.

"Sor-ry," the (Mexican) woman was like, and shrugged.

So, I asked Phyllis for some more Chex mix.

"A beer fell on it or something," I was like, and so she pitched it and got me some, but then when she brought me some more, she started talking in Spanish with the woman a few seats down from me, and then was like, "Oh, that wasn't wet, Rosita just likes hot sauce on everything."

At that, the (Mexican) woman looked at me, shrugged, and was like, "Sor-ry," and Phyllis starts talking to her in Spanish, and being like, "Si quieres mas, tengo mas."

Later, Rosita put more money in the jukebox and went to dance by herself in the middle of the floor, and all the (Mexican) men were watching her and clapping, and one older guy kind of stood back with his arms folded a little too close to her...

After ten minutes I hear her yelling and slapping him and shouting in Spanish, and Phyllis runs down the bar towards them and shouts, "Get out of here, we don't need that in here!", and then she went by where Rosita had sat down, crying, to comfort her (in Spanish).

Later, before I left, when there was a pause in everything, I asked Phyllis where she had learned Spanish so good.

"Growing up on the streets," she was like.