Nerve.com - When The Rodeo Starts by Michael Joseph Gross

Nerve.com - When The Rodeo Starts by Michael Joseph Gross: "The next night, Dad wanted to go back to The Abbey to take Alberto a gift, to thank him for our supper. Alberto insisted that we stay — and again: corner table, free food, free drinks. The owner ('I'm from Ohio! I miss it so much!') knelt at Dad's side and invited us to a Bacardi party in the back, where humpy shirtless boys brought appletinis to my Dad, who thanked them very much, and asked, 'What's your name?'
The party photographer swooped in to snap our picture, and extra shots of Karen, and the bar owner hugged her and said, 'Two days in Hollywood and already the paparazzi are after you!' She squealed with delight.
Everybody in the bar looked and smiled at them, and I realized: they were like drag queens. Camp figures, in the best sense — good country people whom you'd never imagine, in your most deranged, dadaist fantasies, to see at The Abbey. ('I feel like I've got straw comin' out of my sleeves,' Karen had groaned when she first arrived in town.) They obviously did not belong, yet so thoroughly enjoyed themselves and everyone they met, that no one in that bar could feel embarrassed about himself — which removed all of our easiest excuses for judging one another. I had never felt so comfortable, so unself-conscious, in a gay bar in my life. "