“Look,” Patrick said, nudging Dirk and motioning to a pair of women in the mirror. “This might be our moment.”

They looked like nice ladies to Dirk. A brunette and a blonde, both wearing dresses that suggested they, too, needed a night out.

Patrick swiveled on his stool and spoke to them first.

And as he did, Dirk looked about the crowded bar, feeding off the chatter, the energy, the style. It was so simple to him just then, his elbows on the mahogany bar, so easy.

Then in the shadows of a booth he saw Robin Jacobs, his boss at the zoo. The other men with Jacobs looked like bosses, too, and Dirk smiled because the phrase he’d said so many times (today I will be my own boss) didn’t mean what he’d thought it meant.

“Dirk,” Patrick said, tapping his friend on the shoulder. “You’ve got to meet Laura and—”

“Janine,” the blonde said.

“Janine,” Patrick echoed.

Dirk turned to face her. He stood up and offered Janine his seat. Smiling, she took it.

As far as Dirk was concerned, she was the most wonderful woman in the room.

“A librarian,” she said. “I know. I shouldn’t be out drinking.” Dirk leaned against the bar and talked to Janine with confidence, assuredness, and freedom.

“The zoo,” Dirk answered. “I should be out drinking more often.”

Janine said she might have seen him before. She took her teen reading groups to the zoo once a year. Dirk told her he’d have remembered her. Whether this was true or not didn’t matter. It made Janine smile.

A great song came on the bar speakers. Bright harmonies. Bright words. Janine put her hand on Dirk’s once as she laughed at something he said.

“Hey Dirk! Dirk!” Patrick was shouting over the music. “What did your letter say?”

Dirk looked at him inquisitively.

“The letter, your resignation, at work today. What did it say?”

Dirk blushed.

“It said: Thank you but for now on I’m my own boss.”

“That’s it,” Patrick said, slapping a hand on the bar. “Isn’t Dirk the best? What a move!”

Janine liked it. Dirk liked that she did.

He ordered another round.

Soon things were bordering on blurry, but Dirk showed no outward signs of being drunk. Patrick did. He stumbled through his words and got louder with every drink. He slammed an open palm down on the bar a dozen times, accentuating everything any of them said.

Then Dirk excused himself and headed to the bathroom. Once there, he locked the door and set his drink on the sink. He gripped the sides of the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. He smiled. There was something sad, deep within him, but tonight it was distant. Tonight he thought of Janine and Patrick and Laura and the zoo and the House and all the shitty jobs he’d ever had and he smiled.