New Beginning 990

Behind me Moe and Larry played loud and vulgar pool in the sunroom extension, cigarettes passing between hands and lips. Their girlfriends danced to some headbanger’s screaming lyrics, tolerating the pool game in anticipation of getting laid. The steel counter in Bill’s Ugly-Assed Bar and Grill sparkled through the years of spilt beers, hard shots, and too many meaty abdomens leaning against it. I rested my head on my hand and regarded the bottle of tequila, like the unwanted ones, half gone and half to go. Call me Rycker. I was there sans hope, sans faith, sans happiness, sans everything but the shot glass, the friggen worm in my tequila, and Titus, that little guy, my keeper. If you thought I buried my best friend a week ago, you might be wrong.

“The Shrink wants to see us,” Titus said.

“He spoke?”

“He texted. You know text? That new thing.”

“The stool next to me is open,” I pointed.

“Not private enough, his office, noon tomorrow.”

Outside, brakes squealed, tires screeched, and with a bang, the lights went out. I heard arguing. Opalescent faces peered through the dim flicker of tea candles, the intimate ambiance of charnel house.

The fat guy behind the bar sighed at another night of dystopia.

I found his face in the candle-light. "Well, Bill," I said, "Whadda you think?"

Bill leant over the counter. "I think I should have chose a different name for my restaurant."
  

Opening: Dave F......Continuation: Anonymous