The room is suffocatingly silent. Dust has begun to settle on everything.

In the corner sits the chair that once was filled with a large woman who just kept on drinking and cursing, doing no one any harm. Around her huddled a large group who laughed loud and long.

The bar had been lined with stools, equally spaced, that were perched upon by lonely bachelors nursing some sort of cocktail named after their desires. At the end, a small lady had rested her elbows, hands clasped innocently before her, forcing her bosom to look fuller as she grinned and made eyes at the young fellow she fancied.

There is where the poker game was played, resulting in flaring tempers between two best friends who loved to fight more than agree. With fistfuls of shirt in each hand, the bouncer had hauled them off, still cursing.

And here is where I was charmed, the words like kalliedoscope pieces had cascaded through my brain. My being lifted to the rafters in rapture. Here is where I left my soul.

In the silence, only I remember.