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A sure way to become stuck
(Liam)
I asked, “What ye want tae drink?”
M’father’s lawyer, Joe Simpson, shoved the contracts across the bar. “Nothing, Liam, I’m here strictly on business.” He pulled a pen from his pocket and tapped on the paper. “Sign here, here, and there.”
I exhaled, wiping out a beer mug, staring down at the paperwork. I was sitting on a bar stool and my legs jiggled as if they wanted tae run from the bar, run away from the town, run all the way back home tae Scotland.
He held the pen out. “Come on, Liam, it’s not so bad, it’s a great pub, in a great little town in the best part of America,” he looked around, grimaced, and added, “with a bit of shine, not much wrong that a good washing couldn’t fix. And the motel is workable, you could turn it into a real fine business.”
“Ye say it tae me as if I dinna just clean out m’accounts tae clear m’father’s debts. How am I goin’ tae shine a pub when I daena hae a quid tae m’name? My father passed away and I am the poorer for it.”
I put down the mug, took the pen, uncapped it in m’teeth, and signed all three places, then chucked the pen tae the bar.
Joe asked, “Do you want me to work on your immigration forms?”
I shook m’head and called across the pub tae Naisha, the last employee I could afford tae pay, “Joe Simpson is wondering if, now I cleared the debts on my dear old dad’s shite pub and motel in the middle of nowhere, I might want tae settle here. What ye think, Naisha?”
Naisha was wiping off a table and started laughing. “I never met anyone who liked a place less than you, Liam. As soon as you arrived, you were ready to go.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, of course, you spent most of the time in hospice with your dad, it’s hard to blame you for not wanting to stick around. But you’re young, you’ve got a life, you need to get back to it.”
Joe shrugged. “I just thought I’d ask again, now that you own the bar and the motel you might...”
“I need tae return tae Scotland as soon as I can, I took a leave of absence from m’job. I hae people who depend on me. Nae, I want tae put it up for sale.”
“Would you like me to prepare the paperwork?”
“Aye.”
Joe scooped up the papers on the bar, pushed them into a file folder, scribbled somethin’ on a notepad, then stuffed it all in his briefcase. “Anything else I can help you with before I go?”
“Nae, that seems about enough, just puttin’ it up for sale, the sooner the better.”
“I am sorry about your father. He was a good man, well-respected around here.”
I said, “Well, I barely knew him, but that’s what I hear.”
He left the pub waving goodbye to the other customers, who all called back, “Bye Joe!”
Naisha came tae the bar and leaned. “It’s for the best, you know? This place is a sure way to become stuck, and you are too pretty to get stuck.”
I laughed, “Naisha, is this yer way of sayin’ tis my night tae mop the floors?”
“Nah, you get to go home, we can’t both work tonight, you can’t afford to pay us bot
