This happened

Last night I was at a bar. I started out with friends, but they had gone home. I sat by myself watching.

There was a man at the bar who was about my age. He was cock-sure, but he was saying things in a way that made the people around him furrow their brows as if they'd given up trying to be part of the conversation.

He was talking to a woman who seemed younger than he was. I don't know why I was compelled to watch them. I guess because they were standing right in front of me. Also, she was pretty and wearing red short shorts. He was laughing at his own jokes. She was gazing over his shoulder at somebody else. He looked like he needed a straight man, but I didn't know him or her; so I let it go.

The bartender was about to throw out the coffee. I took a cup. Time passed. I sipped my beer, my coffee.

The man came back, extended his arm. The woman in red shorts put her arm in his arm and walked with him like royalty or a bridesmaid toward the back of the bar.

Global warming, AIDs, the sixth extinction. I have no idea what's going on.