Dorene

Dorene sat behind the battered brown steering wheel waiting for the stop light to blink out to green tapping her nails on the wheel to the song on the radio. The final guitar wail ended with a crash of drums and the next song began filtering in through her speakers. The drums rolled in slowly with a cymbal tapping for emphasis as a deep voice began to hum the melody. She could see the light for the cross road turning yellow as the voice began to sing.

Dorene, why you got to be so mean
Dorene, what's your problem with me
Dorene with the beater Ford escort
Dorene, why did you tear out my heart

Dorene stopped tapping and stared down at the radio. She glanced to the passenger dash staring at the Ford symbol emblazoned there. The honking of horns behind her reminded her that the light was turning green. She looked back to the street and stepped on the accelerator as the first verse started up.

Color of her hair don't mean a thing
Her black black heart didn't want the ring
She straddles some guy like a parking cone
She's done with me, her cheating is known

The honking was back again as Dorene looked in the rear view mirror and realized the cars parked on the street were no longer slipping past her. She had stopped her escort completely half a block from the next light. Noticing an open spot in front of a fire hydrant, Dorene jerked the wheel to the right and slammed on the pedal to move out of the flow of traffic as the singing continued.

Her eye a deep green, she was blind to me
A wandering gaze follows ever man she sees
Spiteful hand grabs a handful of denim
That should be me, but that is him

Dorene, why you got to be so mean
Dorene, what's your problem with me
Dorene with her wandering stare
Dorene, sees lovers everywhere

Dorene sat with her foot on the brake pedal trying to think through her past loves for anyone who would have been tied to the music industry in any way. Frank had been a bartender and knew bands, but they had never been anything serious but a few random nights on spring. She definitely had never cheated on him. Tom had been heart broken by her, but he was a computer programmer who didn't listen to much music. Darren had been hot headed which was part of what she had loved about him, but he had left her and he could not have known she cheated when she went away for a conference for work. A wave of male faces swirled in her vision. The sheer number was a bit unsettling. A voice cut into her head telling her that the song can't be her. It could be anyone, the voice said.

Dorene exhaled as she accepted it was just a coincidence. The bridge dashed those hopes quickly.

Her tattoo on her hips, she only let slip
For the men not me, that she slipped off to see
The ink covered birth mark, green as her eyes, black as her heart
A miller's daughter for me, a whore she turned out to be

Too much coincidence to ignore, Dorene knew the song was about her. She had a tattoo of a pot of gold with a green shamrock on her hip she had placed there to cover a scar from her birth. Even the last line was a reference to her. Her father was a marketing manager, but her last name is Miller. How many people she knew would recognize the song was about her? Would Ben know? She sucked in what air she could find in the suddenly confined interior of her car. No boyfriend had ever known about her indiscretions and she had never cared enough about a man to worry about being faithful until Ben.

Dorene, this song is for you
Dorene, you belong in a zoo
Dorene, you already work there now
Dorene, how do you like me now

Dorene stared in wide eyed terror at the specificity of the final chorus. Someone was going to suffer for this. She stared with tears in her eyes waiting for the song name and band, but it never came.