It is a Sunday night, and I’m in a gay bar in White Center for the third night in a row. I’m tired from all the partying, which is why it takes me a second to realize that someone is rubbing my feet.
It is a man I do not know. He asks me a question, but I can’t hear him. We are at the Swallow, a nautical-themed gay bar recently opened by Marcus Wilson, the cocreator and former manager of the popular Capitol Hill bar Pony. House and techno music is blasting.
“WHAT?” I yell.
“ARE YOU WEARING CONVERSE?” the stranger yells back.
He’s referring to my boots.
“NO. THEY’RE PALLADIUMS,” I tell him.
He pauses, mulls over the information, squeezes my boots. It doesn’t feel creepy. We’re smiling. Everyone in the bar is very nice, and I welcome the interaction, though I am surprised that a stranger has come up to me and not only started talking to me but is actually now rubbing my feet. There is no Seattle Freeze in White Center.
“ARE THEY SMELLY?” he yells.
“MY SHOES?”
“YES. DO YOU WEAR THEM ALL THE TIME? ARE THEY FILTHY?”
