Jim looked across the darkened lounge as the last rays of early morning light streamed across it, the door closing behind him with a hard thud. The main floor was large and spread out, on the far wall was the stage, with curtains and all. Along the walls to each side of the stage were booths and along the back wall was the bar along with the entrance to the office, change rooms and storage. The whole place was decked out in red velvet and gold tassels and could seat 300 people easily.
He smiled and took it in for just a moment before reaching around behind the bar and flipping on the light switches. There was something special about seeing the old place devoid of any dancers or patrons, something few people ever got to see, but he did each and every morning as he came in to start the day once more.
The club had been started by his grandfather back in the 1940s as a burlesque club and he ran it for over 30 years. But as times changed, so did how people wanted to see their entertainment. It was Jim's father that had taken it over in the late '70s and converted it to a strip club.
It had been going strong ever since.
Which, to an outsider, might seem strange. After all, the town of Uniford had less than a thousand people living in it which hardly seemed like enough to keep any club, let alone a strip club the size of The Capital Lounge afloat.
What wasn't obvious though was where Uniford was located, on the northeast corner of the state and bordered by two other states that were as dry as a bone. There were three small cities located within 30 minutes of Uniford and not a drop of alcohol, let alone nude dancers, for another hour in any direction.
Unlike his grandfather, who had worked until the day he died, Jim's father had retired ten years ago. The club had provided more than enough money to fund his father's move to Europe where he was chasing young women and even catching a few if his Facebook page was to be believed.
Jim had grown up in the club, loving everything about it, even the drama with the dancers was music to his ears. He was only in his thirties and was looking forward to another 30 years or more of running the place.
That is until Rebecca Mason had moved to town. She was part of a new wave of people moving there and using Uniford as a bedroom community to one of the nearby small cities. She'd immediately taken a disliking to The Capital Lounge and had been quietly campaigning against it.
But that hadn't been a problem really, Mayor Johnston had been running Uniford for over 40 years and no one seriously contested him in the town's elections. Oh, of course, there were always a few fringe candidates that tossed their hat in, but they never amounted to much.
Mayor Johnston was also a long time family friend, Jim's grandfather had been one of the first people to donate to his first campaign. But even beyond that, Mayor Johnston new that the of all the businesses in Uniford, The Capital Lounge paid, by far, the most taxes. So much so that the few critics of the club could do nothing but concede that without it, the town would go bankrupt within a few years.
This was the life that Jim had lived since his father's retirement and it had suddenly come crashing down six months ago during the most recent mayoral election. As always Mayor Johnston was well ahead, with three other fringe candidates running against him.
The first was a green energy zealot who wanted the entire town to be off the grid and use only solar power. This despite the fact that Uniford was 10th to last on the list of cities that received the most sunlight in a year. But that didn't seem to deter the candidate, even when the 'expert' they hired said that it wasn't feasible.
The second ran on a pro-cannabis platform, which had some support. But as there was little else the candidate wanted to discuss, they never managed to address the other issues the town faced or how he would get around the state or federal laws against it.
And finally, there was Rebecca Mason. A young, smart woman who had a plan to take Uniford "out of the dark ages" as she called it, with radical change and growth. One of the planks of her platform, of course, was to close The Capital Club.
None of them had a chance against Mayor Johnson of course, but for one thing. He dropped dead of a massive heart attack just two weeks before the election.
With no time to bring in new candidates and no way to elect a dead man, the election went ahead. And with only three choices, the people of Uniford made the best choice they could and elected Rebecca Mason as the first female Mayor of the town.
And so Jim looked out over his club with affection for what could be one of the last times as Mayor Mason was being sworn in later that day.
* * *
Jim sipped his whisky as the music thumped in the background and the girls strutted around the floor. The club had filled up around 7 as usual and things were in full swing now.
"Hey boss." Fidel, one of his bouncers, said as he approached Jim in the far booth to the right of the stage that was always on reserve.
"Hey Fidel, what's up?" Jim asked.
"Ugh... well you've got a visitor. Mayor Mason is here to see you. I had Tommy take her to your office, I hope that was alright."
"Yeah, that's fine Fidel, thanks." Jim replied and stood up from the booth and headed back to his office.
He opened the door to find Tommy standing just on the inside and Rebecca sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Her well kept blonde hair resting just above her shoulders and her power suit hugging her thin frame tightly.
"Thanks Tommy." Jim said and gave him a tap on the shoulder. Tommy nodded and closed the door as he left.
"Mayor Mason, to what do I owe the honour?"
Rebecca stood up and curled her perfect little nose that sat on her innocent looking face, "I just wanted to tell you personally that I intend to introduce a new by-law at the first council session next week that will see this placed closed down once and for all."
"I'm sorry to hear that, The Capital Lounge has been a part of the community for 80 years. We donate to all of the local charities, provide employment for 40 townsfolk and then there is the small matter of our taxes of course."
"I think the town will get by just fine without your establishment Mr. Donelly."
"Miss Mason, I'm a businessman, nothing more, nothing less. Is there no agreement we can come to about this?"
"No Mr. Donelly, there is not. I'd suggest you let your employees know to start looking for new jobs." Rebecca huffed and then turned and walked from Jim's office.
As she did Jim let out a sigh and swivelled his chair over to the safe that sat under a table along the far wall. Twirling the dial several times he opened it up and pulled out a folder of papers.
Pushing back to his desk he opened the folder and smiled at the documents it contained. The original deed to the land, the first construction contracts from his grandfather, photo's of the renovations his father had done. The most cherished photo he had though was of all three of them together, Jim being no more than 5 at the time.
Jim lost himself in memory for a few minutes before closing the folder and putting it back into the safe. He was about to re-lock the safe when the small lacquered box that sat on the top shelf caught his eye.
His fingers ran across the end of the deep red lacquer until they slid to each side and pulled the box from the shelf. It was no more than 8 inches long, maybe two inches tall and 3 inches deep. But it was inlaid with an intricate pattern of lighter wood that contrasted perfectly.
It was one of the few clear memories he had of his grandfather, the old man holding the box as Jim sat on his lap. Slowly his grandfather opened the box as he told the story of the families greatest treasure.
Jim opened the box himself and just as it had been when he was a child, the gold chain with the ornate pendant on it lay across the dark blue velvet liner.
He could still hear his grandfathers voice, "Now Jim, you must protect this at all costs. It has been handed down from father to son in our family for generations and one day it will be handed down to you."
"But what is it?" he could still hear his younger self say eagerly.
"It's a powerful talisman. It's how I got your grandmother and how your father got his wife. All you have to do is put it on and look at the woman you want. Then, concentrate as hard as you can on her wanting to be your husband. The talisman will do the rest. But remember, it only works on one woman at a time, so pick wisely."
