This seems fairly straightforward: A lowly deck hand spends another lonely night in one of the many anonymous 'river towns' along the Ohio River. Could be modern, but it feels 50 - 100 years back. Things haven't changed that much.
After some bar food and a beer, he's headed back to the flophouse when a young streetwalker invites him into the alley, where he lets her 'work him over.' The quick transaction awakens his loneliness and he impulsively invites her to spend the night with him at the flophouse, which scares her. He's crossed a line and she flees back to her familiar routine of the additional 15-minute 'dates' awaiting her down the road.
Back at the flophouse, he pours a drink and finds himself 'looking in the mirror at the face that [he] deserves' -- eroded by years of hard work, pain, and loneliness. Why did he make that momentary slip of seeking emotional intimacy with a hooker? It's a mistake he won't repeat as he goes back to the ship on his way to the next faceless rivertown...
This seems fairly straightforward: A lowly deck hand spends another lonely night in one of the many anonymous 'river towns' along the Ohio River. Could be modern, but it feels 50 - 100 years back. Things haven't changed that much.
After some bar food and a beer, he's headed back to the flophouse when a young streetwalker invites him into the alley, where he lets her 'work him over.' The quick transaction awakens his loneliness and he impulsively invites her to spend the night with him at the flophouse, which scares her. He's crossed a line and she flees back to her familiar routine of the additional 15-minute 'dates' awaiting her down the road.
Back at the flophouse, he pours a drink and finds himself 'looking in the mirror at the face that [he] deserves' -- eroded by years of hard work, pain, and loneliness. Why did he make that momentary slip of seeking emotional intimacy with a hooker? It's a mistake he won't repeat as he goes back to the ship on his way to the next faceless rivertown...