College Stripper Journals – Pat as Puck (Romancing the Dream)
This journal entry will depart, mostly, from regaling my adventures as a college stripper. I’ll instead speak of the Shakespeare-inspired romance. Specifically, a couple assuming the mantle of drama’s icons. Exposing oneself to the arts will educate the mind, but the baser natures soon assert. While it’s noble to aspire to the heights of the bard, the tumble to humiliation may soon follow.
I was again dating Pat of “The Pats”, a stripping duo made up of Patricia and Patrick. My Pat was the one with blue eyes. The other Pat had brown eyes, like me. My Pat also majored in media, specializing in advertising and promotions. Yeah, that was their tentative connection to drama, one that I appreciated while we worked together. This tendency carried over to our relationship that often mimic’d art. Pat and I went to see a production of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” in the round. The future producer in Pat was readily apparent as they became transfixed by the tale of dreams, love, and marriages. One character particularly struck Pat’s fancy. While I imagine myself the trickster, I was trumped by Pat when they decided that they were an incarnation of Puck, the mischievous fairy also known as Robin Goodfellow. I was OK with this, as it boded well for a bit of play afterward. I should have paid more attention to the play before I made this commitment. Yes, I watched it, but a lot was going on as the four interconnecting plots wound round each other. Little did I know that Pat had locked onto one scene.
Fast forward to the latter part of the day. Pat and I were discussing the end of the drama. A central character had manifested. In the finality of the last scene the stage was given up to the fairies who blessed the house with good fortune, with Puck asking the audience to consider the production a dream if they disliked the play. It was plain that Pat fancied themselves as Puck. I asked who I would be and Pat exclaimed, “Nick Bottoms of course!”. Who was Bottoms? He was one of the laborers who put on a play for the enjoyment of royalty and lovers. Bottoms are also known for temporarily sporting an asses head because of Puck’s intervention. This did not bode well, as Pat was terribly creative in that way.
Before I document my experience as Bottom, with Pat in persona of Puck, I have to share some insights into how I interpreted my alternative lifestyle. Back then as a Southern boy, a resident of Georgia and Alabama, I was a member of an alternative sub-culture as an “adult entertainer”. Even now I can identify with a skill chart I found that stated, “skills in the areas of dance, acting, and sexual performance… showcasing your body to others... working with others on a team”. Mostly true, yes, though I’ll only admit to adequate sexual performance for entertainment value. There are legalities at play here! It was in this spirit of the alternative that I become Bottom and Pat became Puck.
I’ll never know where Pat found the wearable ass head. Pat’s outfit, shades of Peter Pan, came from somewhere back in their outfit closet. I began to think that I wasn’t the first Bottoms in Pat’s life, just as I wasn’t the first “Brown Eyes” they’d coo’d to during our shared passions. Begin the play! A bedroom became the woods as I “slept” in Puck’s company. I was transformed by fairy magic, assuming the countenance of a donkey. While I’m all for role-playing, my sometimes romantic partner had production talents I’ve rarely seen. One thing led to another, with Puck meeting Bottom in the privacy of the forest glades. I’ll leave the rest to imaginations as fervent as Pat’s, if that is possible.
Was it humiliation? I’ll admit that was a bit of trickery on my part. The bard evoked the heights and we invoked depths. Remember, one of my skills as an adult entertainer is “acting”. Pat was worth the thespian efforts, culminating in a closing curtain enjoyed by all. While Pat and I had our difficulties because of our similarities and differences, the enjoyment of the theater was a stimulant to our combined zeal.
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