Dempsey's

Tonight I ate popcorn from a plastic cup in a perhaps too purposefully Irish-style pub. I wiped my greasy fingers on my jeans and watched a mother redirect, and redirect again her toddler who was interested only in changing the sound settings on the band's mixer board. She eventually had to pick the little girl up and carry her away, while three old men and a starkly young one picked and strummed and tapped out their music for us all. The mother was someone I know socially, but not really. There were a lot of people there like that - some I knew, others I had met but didn't really know. It's always like that here. I had absolutely no opinion about any of it as I threaded my way through the crowd's elbows for more popcorn.