A Quick Sketch

Econolodge
Southeast Nashville, Tennessee

Swimming and new friends in the south...

After we climbed out of the pool last night, and hopped back over the fence, we heard a voice calling out across the parking lot, from the vicinity of the office. "Excuse me! The pool is closed! The pool is closed! It opens at ten in the morning..."

"Thank you!" we called back and giggled our way back to the room.

This morning, we went back. I lay in the oppressive heat twiddling my thumbs. "Shit," I said to no one in particular. "I gotta go back to the car and get something to read."

"Why?" a voice replied. I turned my head slightly. Sitting on another deck chair was Jimmy, a local guy we had met the night before. We'd come upon him perched at a stone table outside the pool area, talking on a cell phone. After our swim, we migrated to the Waffle House next store to the Econolodge. For 20 minutes, it seemed, no one came over to take our order. All of a sudden, Jimmy breezed in the door and behind the counter. Within minutes, he was taking our order. Now, he was kicking it poolside. I couldn't quite figure out why.

"What's up, dude?" I asked, ignoring his question. "You stayin' here?"

"Nah, man. I live here."

"Here? At the pool?"

"Naw, at the hotel," he said, pronouncing it distinctly as two syllables: ho-tell.

"At the Econolodge?"

"Sure," he said easily.

"Huh."

"Yeah, it's pretty good -- like, I paid $80,000 for two years. I have to change every week 'cause, well, you know..." he trailed off.

I didn't know, but I bluffed. "Uh-huh."

In the 20 minutes since I'd been by the pool, the water slowly filled with a number of people who seemed to know each other. They were locals, I presumed. I guessed that they, too, lived in the hotel. I recognized a few of them from the night before. I imagined a small community of people living at the Econolodge.

After a quick swim, I said goodbye to Jimmy and his friends, and wandered back to the room. I felt the chlorine tighten around my shoulders and forearm.

Jesse Jarnow can be reached at jesse.jarnow@oberlin.edu or by his homepage.