I was home on leave when an Army recruiter saw me at a gym sparring in the ring with a Navy recruiter he knew. He commented, watching us: “You’re strong and handle yourself pretty well. I know a club owner looking for a guy to work the door and floor. You can earn some good side money. Interested?”

I was and that night I started at The Black Orchid.

I sometimes wonder what happened to Denise, a bartender, at that club. I share in my vignette [available to read on request] that we both felt a jolt of sexual electricity that first night. The tingling touch that makes stomach muscles twitch and triggers the ache of wanting more. But it’s what happened afterward, her abrupt disappearance, that’s always puzzled me.

The memory of this experience lingers. When I hear the song Denise always asked me to play for her… it all comes back.

The Black Orchid is a creative nonfiction story based on actual experience and events. Creative nonfiction takes events, facts, history… life… and turns them into a narrative that reads like a novel. And it can be just as compelling, page-turning addictive, and story-immersive for the reader as any work of fiction.