Longs Drugstore was located about five miles outside of the town where I went to college. If you've ever lived in a traditional college town, you know that there is a big difference between the students who come from far and wide to attend school and the people that actually live in the town. And, you also know that people who are supposedly smart (i.e. the students) can very suddenly turn into smart asses. Longs, being a safe distance away from the sprawling university, did not really cater to the students. Therefore, REAL people shopped there. A cross-section of people. Poor. Rich. (Mostly poor.) Black, White, Asian, Indian, Purple, Homeless. This was a truly refreshing place. I could hop on my bicycle and reach the land of real life. The land of Longs. A roller rink, nowadays, is kind of like Longs.
It is fair to say that I had not been to a roller rink in twenty years when I decided to go again. When I was very little, I used to go to Mom & Tot Skate, to birthday parties, and to elementary school class parties all at the local roller rink. I used to do "shoot the duck," I couples skated with my friends, and I ate at the snack bar. I thought I was incredibly cool on my skates. I thought all of my friends were cool. I thought the skating rink was cool. Now, going there as an adult, I think I was delusional. Either that or times have really changed. See, skating rinks attract representation from every section of people. On Adult Night at the roller rink, I've seen: business people in suits; couples; single women in their fifties and sixties; lots of over-forty single men; lots of over-forty single men with mustaches; young, hip men; women with hot pants on; women with feathered hair; and lots of people in jeans who looked like they ambled in without knowing they were entering a roller rink. Lots of the single men are incredibly good skaters. They zip around the rink and occasionally do tricks. Everyone moves with ease, and I've never seen even one collision.
Like I said, there are lots of single people. I was a little concerned that it would be a bit of a freak-show meat market. People are pretty friendly, but there's more of a camaraderie than a place for pick-ups. I was asked by a Regular to skate with him in a couples skate. I had to decline because, although 50 year old men with mustaches have always been my type, I couldn't betray my nonexistent boyfriend. And, besides, skating was my outlet--my fun--and I just didn't want to taint that with some pseudo skate romance. My heart wouldn't be able to take it. Anyway, it dawned on me later that he probably only wanted to skate with me so that he could stay on the rink. It was a couples only song, after all.
So, yes, there are lots of odd-ball people, including the lady in pink tights who insists on skating on one leg with her other one extended behind her, and the man who most definitely used to be an ice skater who insists on doing axles in the middle of the rink. There are also the younger men who fall in line together on the rink and do a routine as they skate the circle. That's my favorite. Those guys usually don't get to the rink until about an hour and a half into Adult Skate Night. I chatted one of those hotties up tonight. "You're such a good skater. Oh, you have a locker here. Do you work here?" I said as I batted my eyelashes. Of course, he skated only with his pals, but I kept my eye on him the whole time. He was leading their routine, and you know I love a boy who can dance--especially on skates.
There are a lot of characters. Some form of those characters are, no doubt, in attendance in all of the roller rinks across the Midwest. You get to skate under a mirror ball while watching weirdos and the (extremely) occasional eye candy. Plus, skating is lots of fun. You groove to the music. You're free. You're so free that your freakiness ceases to matter. Here, you're allowed to kick your leg out or wear a leotard or break dance in the middle of the rink. You'll be able to wave you Freak Flag, and that is infinitely better than any coolness factor you thought you possessed.
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