FanStory.com - Last Callby Terry Broxson

The Bartender is part one of this story about the HotHouse Bar. Bad Boy Ric is part two. The story features Jennifer, the thirty-three-year-old bartender, and two lady customers, Evelyn and Ann, in their late thirties. Evelyn is married, but in name only. Her husband Stan is dating Shari, the next-door neighbor. Ann is single and always looking.

There are two men customers, Burl, a bachelor banker, and Hollis, an air conditioning repair technician; both are forty. Newly added to the mix is Bad Boy Ric, a guitar player in a country rock band currently performing at the State Fair of Texas for three weeks.

***

On a Thursday at 5 PM, Jennifer started organizing the bar for happy hour. Her lunchtime regulars will now turn into happy hour regulars. There is no doubt they will want to talk about Bad Boy Ric. Ric had given each person free tickets to the State Fair and admission passes to see his band play.

Evelyn and Ann came into the bar before the guys. Evelyn says, "I got to text Stan and Shari and tell them I am not coming home to fix dinner. I want them to go to Handsome Dan's Bar and Buffet in Garland; nobody knows me over there."

Jennifer observes, "Must be hard on you managing your husband's affair."

Ann confides, "Speaking from experience, it is much more fun to manage your own."

Burl and Hollis saunter in, waving to the ladies, and take their well-worn bar seats as Jennifer sets their Jack Daniel single barrel bourbon in front of them.

Jennifer asks, "What did y'all think of Ric?"

Hollis is the first to reply, "I like the cut of his jib."

"When did you see his jib?" Ann asks.

"How bad was it cut?" Evelyn inquires.

Jennifer sighs. "Don't you ladies ever read? It means to like how someone acts or handles himself; it's an old sailing term."

Ann says, "What I thought was more interesting."

Jennifer asks, "Are y'all going to the State Fair to hear Ric's band Saturday night?"

Burl states, "Hollis and I are going for sure."

Ann chimes in, "Me too."

Evelyn says, "I'm staying in, but Stan and Shari are using the tickets."

Jennifer looks at everyone. "Okay, I'm working, but on Sunday night, for the football game, I want a full report from everyone."

***

Sunday nights at the HotHouse were different during football season because of Sunday Night Football. Clyde McMann, the owner, had placed three seventy-five-inch LG televisions to cover the seated bar and the tables for viewing by his customers.

Jennifer worked the bar on Sundays during football season. It was the best night for the tip jar, and credit card gratuities were even better. If the Dallas Cowboys played on Sunday night, Jennifer's income doubled; if they won, it could triple. Of course, the IRS didn't know about it.

Jennifer had been serving chicken sandwiches and booze for twelve years. She went to college for two years, but it was expensive. She took the job at the Hothouse and started making money; she stayed and never looked back.

She had one serious relationship for a couple of years. It didn't work out. Last few years, Jennifer felt all she was doing was swimming in the sea of life. She found a few perches and threw them back. She avoided the sharks. She met plenty of men at the HotHouse, but she didn't date customers.

Jennifer's passion was reading. She liked women novelists. Her current favorites were Sandra Mitchell, Ulla, Barbara Wilkey, and Sally Law. The stories Jennifer read took her to people, places, and adventures she only imagined. She wanted more from living than chicken sandwiches, curly fries, liquor, and imagination.

Getting ready for work, Jennifer thought, The HotHouse will be jumping tonight. The Cowboys are playing the New York Giants, and it's the State Fair of Texas opening weekend. I am wearing a new outfit. The ladies will want to know where I got it, and the guys will be unable to take their eyes off me.

By six o'clock, the regulars had already started to arrive, although the game didn't start till seven. Burl and Hollis came in together, they had shared an Uber to the HotHouse, and Uber would get them home.

"Jennifer, our usual, please."

"Dang, Hollis, Jennifer looks hot tonight."

"She always looks hot. But I do see what you mean. Jennifer, how about you and me watch the game at my house?"

"You know better than that; I got to work."

"No harm in asking; someday, you might change your mind. Right, Hollis?"

"Keep me out of it, Burl. I got my own aspirations."

At this point, Evelyn and Ann walk in, and Ann says, "Hollis, what kind of aspirations you got?"

"Aww, you know, the regular kind."

"Oh, the regular kind that got you married three times with four kids, and you're only forty years old. You need some different kinds of aspirations."

Evelyn adds, "Yeah, the kind that comes with a vasectomy." Looking at Jennifer, she asks, "Girl, where did you get that outfit? I love it."

"Over at the outlet mall, Neiman's Last Call, this little ditty sang to me."

"It's definitely singing my song."

Jennifer pours a couple of Molsons for Evelyn and Ann and says, "No, Burl, bankers don't have songs, bartender's have songs. You know, like George Jones's 'Bar Tenders Blues.' Although Amy Grant's version is better. But I want to know how it went at the State Fair last night."

Evelyn says, "I had a wonderfully quiet night at home. Stan and Shari didn't even wake me when they got home. We had a delicious Sunday brunch that Shari fixed."

Hollis says, "I had a great time, danced a couple of times with Ann, and Burl danced once with Shari."

Jennifer asks, "Evelyn, is it a little weird that your husband's girlfriend is dancing with Burl and staying with Stan in your guest bedroom?"

"Look, here's the deal. I should divorce Stan, but he can't afford it. So until he hits it big with a scratch-off lottery ticket, it is what it is. But I think I could be pals with Shari."

Ann raises her hand like she wants to testify in court and says, "I had fun dancing, and I loved Ric's band, one guy in particular."

Burl tells everybody, "The Cincinnati Red Rockers really rock and they have a great fiddle player; Jennifer, you should have been there."

Ann declares, "The band is playing a matinee today; Ric said he would be here for the game. I'm saving two seats at the bar. One for Ric and one for Bingo; he's the drummer."

Jennifer rolls her eyes, "His name is Bingo?"

"I think so; I know I kept saying Bingo all night and twice this morning."

"Ann, you know the band is leaving town in three weeks."

"Yep, I'm glad to see them come and glad to see them go."

The front door of the HotHouse opens, and in walks Bad Boy Ric and a tall skinny fella with long hair and a short beard. They walk over to two empty bar chairs next to Ann. Tall and skinny hugs Ann and kisses her.

Ann coos, "Hello, Bingo."

Ric smiles at Jennifer and asks, "Cool outfit; where did you find it?"

"Last Call."

"Jennifer, that is a good idea. I never miss last call. When is it?"

Stumbling to get the words out just right, she replies, "After the football game."

A smiling Ric says, "Sounds like a plan. How about I call you Jenny?"

"A Jenny is a female Jackass, don't be one."

"Oops."

Burl slides over to Ric, and whispers, "Don't worry, she uses that line all the time."

Jennifer looks at the Hamm's Beer Clock. 6:15 Sunday evening. She thinks. It is the first night of the rest of my life. In the twelve years, I have worked at the HotHouse, I have never been involved with a customer. But I think my toes are curling!

Coming Next: Ric The Player, The Conclusion.

Amy Grant - "Bartender´s Blues" - YouTube