Just Another Night

The bar was a dive, a dank tavern just south of the Loop.  It must have once been popular, with it’s dirty maroon carpeting and unused booths and tables, facing a little stage where bands no doubt once played, but now it was the hangout of blue-collar workers on their way home.

The bar itself was old oak covered in a thick coat of varnish, dark and still somewhat shiny long after its glory days.  The bartender polished it idly, and exchanged small talk with his regulars.  Despite everything, he liked the place, he made enough to make ends meet, and it wasn’t a whole lot of work to keep the place up.  Besides, he knew everyone there, he work practically consisted of hanging out with friends.  How many people can say that about their job?

“Hey there, Mick,” a large man said as heapproached the bar, carrying a guitar over his shoulder.

“Heya Mel,” the bartender responded, “Full house tonight, ” he gestured past the two men sitting at the bar to a group of five that sat around a table not far from the small stage in the back.

“Wow, see what happens when you don’t water down the liquor so damn much?”  Mel put the guitar down by the stool and sat down, brushing his long white hair from his face. 

Mel was older than Mick, he wasn’t sure by how much, though the white hair and biker moustache that made him look like that guy Orange County Choppers sure didn’t help things.  He first showed up a few years ago, clean-shaven and short-haired, and a lot scrawnier, and asked if he could play the guitar.  Mick gave him a shot, figured it couldn’t hurt, and it didn’t.  Mel was a decent enough musician, and never drove anyone away, though Mick couldn’t say he brought much business either.  He came nearly every night, and had become something of a fixture at the bar.

“Funny man… Going to make it big tonight?” Mick asked.

“You know it,” Mel replied, “Gimme a water and lemon.”

“You fucking wuss,” Mick said, pouring the water into a glass.

“Up yours, you know I mess up my chords when I drink.”

“Sure you do.  And maybe when you finish you might ask your husband if he’d like to come out next time and play,” Mick said as he handed the glass to Mel.

Mel rolled his eyes and drank the water.