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“Unbelievable,” said Nikki as she continued to stare after Patrick in disbelief.
“Unbelievable,” echoed Romeo as he continued to stare after Ant in disbelief.
Then without saying another word Romeo headed back to his stand and Nikki headed over toward the dock. Which left Cap and the Mayor standing there alone together.
“Now Cap,” the Mayor began, bits of cheesy poof popping from his mouth as he spoke. “We’re not going to have any trouble from you tonight are we?”
“No, Mr Mayor. Of course not.”
“Good. Good. And maybe you could see your way clear to burying the hatchet once and for all. Monty is here this evening. Maybe you could reach out?”
Cap snorted and looked over in the direction of Monty’s stand. “Oh yeah. I can definitely do that,” he said.
“Great. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue to say hi to all these nice people who are waiting behind you.”
It was clear to Cap that was his cue to leave. He didn’t mind being dismissed. He was practically itching to hit the bar. “Okay then,” he said as he shook the Mayor’s hand and headed off.
“Oh. You’re back,” said the goateed guy behind the counter.
“Shut up,” snapped Tyler as he slapped down his money, grabbed the six-pack and pushed his way out of the liquor store. He fell back into the front seat of his car, ripped a can from the plastic ring, popped the top and chugged it down. When the can was empty he crushed it and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. It was an easy shot with the top down. At least it should have been .
But he missed that one. Like most of the others. And as a result there was a growing pile of crushed cans of Coors congregating around the trash can. Not that he cared.
Tyler grabbed another, but before he took a sip he looked up through the open top toward the sky, again. There it was. Looming above him. The Mayor’s latest billboard. Practically mocking him.
The Mayor liked to use billboards for certain messages. He felt they helped him get his point across in a folksy, towny, low-tech, country kind of way. This, he believed, was an important tenet to hold onto in this time of high-tech living.
Usually they were inspirational quotes or reminders of upcoming issues and elections. This time it was happy birthday wishes to the Mayor himself. Ordered to be erected, by the Mayor himself. Of course, that wasn’t public knowledge. The Mayor would never want the general public to know that these birthday wishes were his own idea. So the billboard suggested it was the town wishing him well.
Tyler looked up at the Mayor’s smug fat face and connected the dots. At least as he saw them. The Mayor was having a birthday. Which meant he was having a party. A party that Monty’s was now catering because he/Tyler got blamed for the big fight that those Monty’s pukes had so obviously started. Somehow, despite landing in the hospital, everything was all his fault? How crazy was that?
Yep, Tyler connected all the dots, and in his mind those dots all led to the same inevitable conclusion. That the fact that he was now out of work, broke, busted up, painted blue and in a fight with basically his whole family was all their fault - the whole Monty’s crew. And now they were gonna pay the price.
In one, long, aggressive gulp Tyler finished his beer, started his car, threw it into drive and peeled out of that parking lot.
42
“Johnny Black neat,” said Cap, bellying up to the bar.
“Sure thing,” answered the bartender, a well groomed young man in a white button down and bow tie. He moved slower than Cap would have liked, but eventually he poured a couple fingers worth of scotch into a tumbler and pushed it forward.
Cap grabbed the drink and slugged it back. “Another,” he said, banging the empty glass on the bar.
Again the bartender poured, and again Cap gulped it down.
“Hit me,” Cap said, gesturing to the glass a third time.
“You sure?”
“Oh yeah. I’m sure.”
And again.
Then Cap breathed a big, deep breath.
“Feel better?”
“No. I don’t. But I do feel numb-er.”
