Written as a special thank you to friends who support the Remember When Book page on Facebook, here is a brief look at one of the characters' back story. Enjoy!
Somebody got punched.
Somebody got punched for saying “Dago” in response to “Kike”,
down at the other end of the bar. Barry just pushed his stool back far enough
that if a beer bottle or body came sailing his way, at least he’d see it
coming. The Jewish kid should have swung first instead of mouthing off. “Holy
Hell, assholes”, he thought loudly. “Knock it off. It’s not like this is the
neighborhoods.” Okay, maybe he didn’t just think it. Most everyone in the joint
was looking at him, even the two morons who’d been throwing punches.
The bartender leaned over to Barry. “Thanks”, he said and
looked down toward the troublemakers. “You done now?” Yeah, they were done.
Backing away from each other and not even talking. The bartender didn’t say
anything more to Barry, but a minute or so later he put another drink in front
of him. Barry smiled a little about that. Always nice to be appreciated.
It was his last night in town this month. Nothing wrong with
getting on an airplane tired, but he’d try to avoid adding hungover to that.
National to Miami, then down to Caracas. Again. There never seemed to be enough
time back here. He missed a lot of things happening. He wasn’t even here when
she got sick. By the time he got back and someone told him, she was gone. Which
was why he was in the bar that night, drinking alone, on their anniversary. His
voice was very soft when he said, “Miss you, Cecile…” and finished his fresh
drink. He thought it was time to go home, then. When a man had nothing left in
his life but his career, it was better not to drink too much.
No comments:
Post a Comment