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T. SPEAR
I go back to the glasses; finish drying them and then line them up under the bar. I’ve got to stop dwelling on what could be, because what could be would have already been if I really wanted it to. I have too much here. This town has a grip on me that has never loosened, and I don’t know that I will ever be able to pry it off.
Chapter Two
Grayson
THE BELL OVER THE door dings, letting me know someone is here. It’s early still, only 4:30, but this is about when the regulars start showing up.
“Hey Lenard.” I say to the shorter old man walking into the bar.
He has been coming to this bar since he was a child. He’s told me stories about his parents coming in, setting him and his brother and sister up in a booth with food while his parents sat at the bar. It’s crazy to think how much has changed for him, even in this one building.
“Hey ya, Gray. How ya been?”
Lenard takes his seat at the corner of the bar. I’m not sure I have ever seen him sit anywhere else besides that bar stool or the bench we have out front, where he smokes.
“Well Lenard, considering I just saw ya yesterday, not much has changed, I’m doing pretty well. How about you old man?” I covered for one of our other bartenders yesterday evening. I don’t usually work during the week. My busy social life and all.
I don’t know who else is going to keep my couch company and watch movies with it.
6
T. SPEAR
“Ahhh ya know. Another day.” He says, lifting his hat slightly and moving it side to side, as if he’s adjusting it, then fits it to his head again. Lenard is probably in his late 70’s if I had to guess. I haven’t asked him. His hair is grey and shaggy, sticking out from under his hat. The wrinkles on his face run deep. But you can tell they came from good times. Laugh lines frame his eyes. And I am fairly certain he has worn the same hat for three years. A blue ford hat that looks like it’s been run over about a dozen times and never cleaned.
“What can I get for ya Lenard? The same?”
“You know me so well young’un.”
I pull a glass and pour the old man a jack and coke. I set it in front of him and put my forearms on the counter.
“How did you do it Lenard? How did you stay here your whole life and stay sane?”
He looks at me with wide eyes while taking a sip of his drink.
“Are you crazy? I haven’t been here my whole life”
“You were born and raised here though, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but I was in the army. I traveled all over Europe and the United States.”
“So, what made you come back?”
“Well, after my dad died my mom needed me. I didn’t feel right putting her in a home. My brother moved out of the state and my sister was busy with her family. After that, I got a job at the mine and when she died, this town was all I knew.”
“Yeah. That’s how I feel. I have everything I need here. Why leave.”
WHEN YOU'RE READY
7
“There is a whole big world out there to see.” he says and waves his hand in the air. “Occasionally, I regret not going back to some of my favorite places, but I went there once and that’s what really matters. I don’t regret leaving.”
“Did you have a wife, Lenard?”
“Nope. Lots of girlfriends. I was in love once, but I was too chickenshit to tell her. She ended up marrying one of my buddies from high school.”
