Dry - 4

Monster raised an eyebrow. Bill may have been his uncle technically, but the man was younger than him by a good seven years. Grandpa had a lot of kids. Monster only called him uncle as a sort of running joke. He wasn't even responsible enough to take care of himself.

 

"What were you doing in it?"

 

"Aw hell, I got drunk last night. I just woke up here."

 

"Hm." Monster didn't want to tell him anything, but there wasn't any way around it. He couldn't leave him here. He'd have to cut his uncle in.

 

"Throwing a party tonight." Uncle Bill raised his eyebrows this time. "Listen, I'll cut you in on the liquor sales. Ten percent?"

 

"Ten? How about twenty?"

 

"How about you pony up twenty percent of what I'm paying out?"

 

Uncle Bill looked around and then patted his pockets. He gave Monster a sheepish grin.

 

Cazire, a squat Middle-Eastern man, came out of the building.

 

"My friend, my friend," Cazire began with his typical smile. "You must to come inside."

 

"Hey, who's that guy?" Uncle Bill asked as he followed them inside.

 

"That's my contact." Moore was a dry county and every few months or so Monster made a run a few counties over to load up on booze and throw a party. He had Cazire and a few other contacts in other counties in Tennessee.

 

"Tonight is special night," Cazire said. "We must all to celebrate. Boys load up truck—we celebrate." Monster heard the loading door to the building slide up. In a few moments they'd be set. Monster dug into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash folded in half and held in place with a rubber band and Cazire tucked it into his vest pocket. High temperatures over here must have been like a cool spring day to the man. He had on a sweater beneath his vest and wasn't even sweating.

 

Cazire gestured to a small table against the wall. There were two gin glasses next to a jug of something. He pulled out a third gin glass that didn't match and wiped it off on his vest before setting it by the others, then picked up the jug and carefully sloshed each glass three-quarters of the way full.

 

"We celebrate." Cazire beamed.

 

"Celebrate what?" Monster asked.

 

"Business!"

 

Monster was confused. They'd never done this before.

 

"Hey man, you're all right!" Uncle Bill slapped him on the back and squeezed between the two men. He yanked up a glass, sniffed it, and pounded it back.

 

"Whoa." Uncle Bill's voice sounded like a moose being strangled. His face stayed pinched for a good ten seconds. He slammed the glass back on the table. "Hit me."

 

Cazire refilled Bill's glass. Monster didn't really drink that much, but he didn't want to insult his host. He picked up a glass with Cazire.