Chapter Five
Out on the Town after dinner
Driving through the downtown area we pass O'Malley's. The bright lights outside are harsh and garish. Just seeing the sign brings back memories.
The bar has done well and now takes up an entire downtown block. From the people I can see, the patronage is more upscale than when we were just out of college.
Pointing to the Bar, Patti asks, "Do you remember how we used to hang out here when we were dating?"
"Those were some fun times!" I readily agree, remembering all the drunken parties.
"Why don't we stop and see how much it has changed, we might see someone we know, what do you say, Hon?" she asks excitedly.
"It's pretty late." I reply.
"Don't be a spoil sport, you're the one who always says never waste a good buzz," she fires back with a grin.
"Ok, let me find a parking space and we'll go in, have a drink, and check it out"
I circle the block two or three times but there is no parking space available.
Patti says, "Why don't we splurge and use the valet, I saw a sign back there last time we went by."
I circle once more then pull up to the front for the valet parking.
A neatly dressed young man comes out quickly to get the door for Patti, and she gives him a big smile and friendly hello as she gets out of the car.
As he drives away, I again appreciate how beautiful Patti is, she still turns heads, standing there at the curb.
I swat her gently on the butt as we walk toward the door. "I saw you flirting with that young man."
"I wasn't flirting, he was flirting. I think he was looking at my legs. All I did was smile" she replies with a devilish grin.
I swat her again and she leans back against me. "You are going to get in trouble if you keep teasing me," she whispers huskily.
The music is booming inside, Patti follows me to the bar to get us a drink, and then we begin to explore the place. There has been a lot of change in the last ten years. The crowd is a throbbing mass of people; it is like squeezing through a human herd, constantly moving and swaying to the booming music.
There are three main areas separate from one another; each has a live band playing a different style of music. It is almost deafening as you go from one large room to another but once inside each room, the different music can still be enjoyed easily.
We end up drifting toward the back where a woman is singing blues with a three-man band accompanying her. Each separate area has two sets of doors like an airlock to separate the sound.
After standing for a few minutes, we finally catch a booth and sit down. The music is fantastic, the woman has a great voice, and we dance to several of the slow songs. Patti has become very romantic, she holds me tight and rubs her body against mine while dancing and clings tightly even as we walk back to our seat.
When the singer announces she is taking a break and will be back in fifteen or twenty minutes, Patti excuses her self to the ladies' room. I watch her sweet form as she walks away from the table. In seconds she is swallowed by the crowd.
I sip on my drink and look around at all the people, there are at least a hundred people in this one Blues room. Most are our age or younger, I don't feel out of place at all. Maybe we should have come back to this place before tonight.
I spot Patti making her way back across the room. Heads are turning as she squeezes through the crowd.
"It's crazy in here," she says breathlessly, "I have never had so many hands helping me get through a crowd." She says with a mischievous grin.
"You are just, loving this aren't you?" I ask.
"Well, it's a lot different from college days; even the women get fresh now." I get another wicked little grin.
Patti changes the subject, "I saw an awesome game room. You need to check it out. It's just beyond the rest rooms. The equipment looks really sophisticated."
"I have never been to an 'Over twenty-one' game room in a nightclub. Sounds interesting, I'm surprised one of the guys at work hasn't mentioned it. "You want to join me?"
When she leans over to pick up her purse, I swat her sweet rear again. This time she turns and gives me a sultry look before starting out ahead of me, in seconds we are separated and I just catch occasional glimpses of her ahead of me.
When I catch up one the other side of the room, she pulls my head down and whispers, "I love the way you keep grabbing my ass and spanking me. Are you trying to make me be a bad girl tonight?"
She swishes away before I can comment.
The game room is amazing When we first walk in it looks like some kind of futuristic furniture showroom. There are several areas set up with sofas and chairs and huge LCD screens for people to watch the games being played.
We stroll around the room looking and occasionally stopping to watch what people are playing. This is the most elaborate set-up I have seen.
A pretty waitress brings us another round of drinks and we drift apart to enjoy some of the electronics.
I get engrossed in a virtual reality RPG that is quite sophisticated, "I need to get Patti to try this," I think, exiting the small cubicle. Each RPG machine has an enclosed booth for two players to operate the machine by way of a console.
After about fifteen minutes, the waitress finds me with another drink; I ask if she has seen my wife.
She grins at me and says, "She is having a ball, isn't she? Check out the NASCAR section, I just took her a drink in there." The girl points to a double door that I had not noticed before. The doors are closed but has NASCAR lettered across them.
I pay her for the drinks and walk over to this previously unnoticed section of the game room.
There is a double set of doors. Opening the second set of doors, there is an immediate blast of sound, the noise of racing cars and crowds screaming in the background.
Quite a soundproofing job I think entering the large room.
This room is approximately 75' by 100' long and has low ceilings with two rows of cubicles lined up along a lower area between them.
The array is set up so that players can race against themselves, or flip a switch and be in a queue to start a race with any of the other players in separate cubicles. Each cubicle has six comfortable seats for the people watching.
Once there are more than three players ready to race, the electronic controller, lines them up and they are racing on the same track in real time. It is amazing. They can have multiple races going on at the same time and spectators can move around and watch different races.
I walk slowly from one to another checking them out. In each cubicle, there is a single row of six seats along a railing looking over into a long pit where the actual cars are. The spectators can see the driver in the pit about six feet below them. There is a huge LCD screen that shows a split view, one side from the cockpit of the racecars, the other shows the race track.
The cars are set up on a base that turns and tilts based on the maneuvers of the driver. When a driver goes into a curve, too fast the car literally fishtails out to the side. There is a lot of machinery working together to make this feel as real as possible. I watch as one driver looses control and crashes, the car violently bucks up and down as well as side to side.
The front and rear of the car raises or lowers to simulate acceleration or braking and they lean when they go into curves.
This is the most realistic set-up I have seen, recognizing some of the same technology we use in our business.
The drivers are equipped with a helmet and face shield, and even have a communication system that allows them to talk to the other drivers in the race.
The audio allows the onlookers to hear the conversations between drivers as well as communication from each driver's pit crew which at first I think is simulated. Then I realize that in the cubicles across the way, people are playing the game by managing the different car's strategy, pit stops, fuel and tire wear.
Watching the big screen, it takes me several minutes to see that Patti is in the current race with three other participants, one is female, and the other two are guys.
Patti's Pit boss is a man, but I haven't figured out how to tell which person is in which cubicle over there.
I make my way down the row, peeking into each cubicle. About three quarters way down the middle aisle, I find her and work my way over to a seat so I can watch the race.
Patti is in one of the race cars, with helmet and face shield on, it looks like she is really into this.
She is aggressively driving and seems to have teamed up with a girl in another car. They help each other against the two guys they are racing.
The picture on the screen is so realistic that I am captured watching the race. She is holding her own, ahead of both the men, and keeps changing positions with the girl she has teamed up with.
Behind me, I hear a man speak into a small two-way saying that his driver has to make a pit-stop because the tread life on his tires is almost used up. He then steps out of the room.
As soon as he says this, another voice comes on and tells the others that car 22 is pitting, if they need a stop this would be a good time.
From the speakers we all hear the people talking over the system saying that they will be stopping for tires.
The announcer also reminds them that their positions will be maintained and that the stop will be about 15 minutes because they need to reset some of the computers.
The light is very dim where the participants are in their simulators but the huge screen illuminates the simulated racecars.
Patti is strapped into the machine; the straps of the safety harness have her dress pulled way up. The smooth skin of her thighs covered in sheer stockings is clearly visible to all of the spectators.
