Bad Beer O’Clock
Photo by Adam Wilson on UnsplashA short trip really for one not long for this world or into deep philosophical ponderings. Just a left out of the parking lot of Mcleary’s Tavern and then a few weaves across the center line to the stop light before the on ramp to interstate. A short five mile hump at about ninety only hitting the gravel once before taking your exit with old Hank Sr. riding shotgun on the radio.
At the entrance to the battered trailer park you drop the rusty Dodge into first gear because of the speed bumps and then you make a smoky cruise down to lot #107. At the top of the rotted steps you promised to fix a dozen times you light up a Camel and bang through the front door. As expected, wife number three asks the same old question, “Drunk again Henry,” and you respond with a short hard shot to the mouth and then pick a tooth out of your knuckle before staggering down the hallway towards fourteen year old step daughter number two’s bedroom.
You feel the sexual meanness rise as you stare down at the quivering blankets and hear the soft “please no, please no, please no” praying from underneath. You remove your baseball cap and greasy t-shirt and you’re unbuckling your belt when wife number three with the shattered lips and missing teeth interrupts your favorite excursion with a shotgun blast from your favorite twelve gauge. A small whimper for mercy passes your lips and wife number three dials 9–11 while you hold a towel to your bloody mid-section and lost manhood. The short blond hair and blue eyes of step daughter number two appear from under the covers, but her tears seem to have dried up now and she’s laughing.
On the way to the emergency room you stare in wonder at the large gauze bandage that’s quickly turning red where your Levis and love stick used to be. In the ER consciousness slips and slithers away from you and your breathing goes all raggedy, but you try to laugh as you hear the beer commercial on the television in waiting room say, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Bad Beer O’Clock was originally published in The Junction on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
