The Life and Times of Lola Fontaine: Cleaning Day

Lola pressed her back against the cold, hard door in the dumpy bathroom of the bar. Sliding to the floor, her face fell into her hands. What was she doing here? Not even her eternal optimism could illuminate the shadowy corners of this bar. She wanted to be a show girl, but something was just not right at all about this situation. As she sat propped against the door, it suddenly swung open with such force that Lola went toppling head over heels into the toilet. A lumbering, but exotic figure pushed into the bathroom. Her clothes were falling off of her, heavy make-up sat smudged on her glistening face, but even the make-up could not conceal the sadness and bitterness in her eyes. She smelled of cigarette smoke, the spilled beer, the wasted hope. But, this woman, this juggernaut was dripping with dollars. She did not speak, but Lola watched her form where she sat crouched beside the running toilet. The woman slipped money into an envelope labeled Molina Rose and started to remove the inches of thick make-up: circles of blush, false eyelashes, slick, red lipstick, the works. Molina Rose looked over at Lola with a look of disgust, pity, and a hint of amusement. "If you’re gonna go out there , you might as well go ahead kid. They’re good ‘n drunk now, so they’ll be um... more friendly " she smirked as she turned back to her task of removing her painted face. Lola scuffled to her feet, put on the pumps, the feathers, the sequins, stood up straight, and pranced out the door. The lovely Molina Rose said the people were friendlier now, and the oodles of money they had given her sure was nice, so the people really must not be all that bad...right?
Lola stared out the window watching the rain fall on Washington Heights. The window began to Fog up where she breathed in and out. Remembering that night at The Bar brought tears of regret to her eyes. It was a good thing it was raining, then noone would notice her tears. She watched as the people on the side walk ran for cover. Clio Ford brought in her lovely flowers and began to lock up her shop. The strange woman who owned the stuffed animal stand sat patting each animal then placing it out of reach of the rain. Opened doors of the shops began to close to keep the rain out. How unlovely this day was proving to be. Rain was like tears from the sky, a lovely thought, but why was the sky sad? thought Lola. Then she had a thought that dried her own tears and brought back her ever glowing smile. The rain was giving Washington Heights a quick tidy up, just what it needed. That was just what Lola needed, a pick-me-up. So she left her apartment to go and try to find a new pair of shoes. As she came out onto the sidewalk she could see just one shimmering ray of sunshine peek form behind the clouds. Lola smiled.