Lap dance on the overpass brings traffic to a standstill?

Lap dance on the overpass brings traffic to a standstill? A couple years back while kicked back in my lazy boy living the life of Riley, I thumbed through the San Mateo County Times , but there on the obituary page was a name I remembered. In just a few short sentences describing a persons entire existence on earth the article mentioned she was surrounded by her loving family and donated a sizeable sum to a children’s hospital and with equal amounts to the local humane society in memory of her dog “Tag“. It was the mid eighties and Regan was president, prior to taking office a bill passed by  congress forced many mental institutions to close. With the funds shut off patients with serious problems now roamed the streets in cities throughout the nation and this is just one of those stories. Cindy was an intelligent girl, a college graduate I later found out with a bright future ahead of her the possibilities were endless, but then out of nowhere she withdrew into a bout of deep depression that lead to hospitalization, homelessness, alcoholism  and drug addiction. Abandoned by her dysfunctional  family she found herself with limited options and often sold her body to feed her addictions. She wandered hopelessly from one end of the county to the other dancing at strip clubs and seedy bars turning tricks and shooting dope wherever she could find it. Our paths crossed one winter day when I was just leaving the shelter and as I approached the stop sign at Coyote Point Drive and No. Bayshore Blvd. out from a homeless encampment located under a overpass ran a black Scottish Terrier with a woman in hot pursuit. I hopped out of the van leashed the little guy and handed the leashed animal to the woman just as she ran up. “Tag, you bad boy”, she said scooping the dog up and into her arms, “you could have gotten killed”. The woman in her twenties pointed to a group of homeless standing over a small opened fire. The camp located under the Peninsula overpass was the only shelter these poor souls had for now. “I’m Cindy” she said, “Cindy Smith and this is my dog “Tag”, he doesn’t like it there”, she continued with the smell of alcohol on her breath, “ but it just going to have to do until some place better comes up”. If anyone ever needed a job to remind them how fortunate they are compared to the harshness of life no matter how deserving it was this was it. “ Pleased to meet you”, I said, “ be careful and you can keep the leash”.  As I drove off the ragtag group toasted the safe return of Tag lifting their beer cans skyward. Over the next month or so Tag was seen at night particularly by our graveyard officer roaming the shelter parking lot alone, perhaps drawn to the sound of other dogs or the smell of food. He was never caught and his black coat made him almost impossible to see blending into shadows and darken corners like a four legged ghost. One afternoon fueled by alcohol Cindy took center stage on the Peninsula Ave. overpass and as rush hour traffic crowded highway 101 in both directions Cindy stood naked on top of a creaky lawn chair accompanied by Tag who sat tied to the cyclone fence to watch his plastered mistress shimmy. Traffic came to a standstill as Cindy shook her booty doing the funky chicken, twist and shout, hey look out mama she’s putting it out? This of course attracted some unwanted attention and it wasn’t long before the police arrived, but with traffic so congested they had to park a block away just to reach her on foot. Now Cindy was a troubled soul and it was sad to see one of Gods creations exposing her womanly charms in this way. Numerous cars had pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway and held up score sheets with mostly being nine’s and above and a whole lot of tens while others waved dollar bills and whistled . There was a roar of jeers and boos when the police reached Cindy and they quickly covered her with a blanket. I reached Tag by using the spiral stair case used by pedestrians to climb to the overpass from below. About a week later Cindy now sober redeemed Tag from the shelter and mentioned to the front office staff her dancing day’s were over. She did stay long enough to autograph her picture posted on the front of the local paper and said she had enrolled in a new program she believed would turn her life around. It may have rained dollar bill’s that day and it’s been said you have to reach bottom before to can climb back up again but maybe on that day a greater power had seen enough.