~ Spring Break #16

“Remember, I’ll always be true.

And then while I’m away, I’ll write home every day…”*

(431 words, 2 minutes read time.)

>~~~~~ 16 ~~~~~<

Whenever she could, Mel managed her bar to allow herself five, sometimes six hours of sleep. Most nights she might be in bed before three a.m. Not tonight though. Tonight was special. Gigi was in town, Mel decided to stay up while Suzie chose to work late and close the bar out quickly so she could eavesdrop on her friends as they caught up on years that had passed in the corner booth

Gigi was clearly exhausted, but clinging to the conversation, her head nestled in her hands, elbows on the table. When Suzie looked to be preparing to go home Mel waived her to join them at the table. She knew Suzie was just as curious about Gigi’s new life in Charlotte as anyone, and she wanted her to hear more of their good old days when she was just a child.

Those were sweet times, not forgotten even after Sylvia came to town on her mission of desire and destruction. Seducing Bill and blackmailing him before absconding with his fortune.

Suzie brought with her the bottle of wine from earlier and three clean glasses, stems woven in her fingers. She placed it all near Gigi’s ashtray on the table. “I thought y’all might be thirsty. I sure am.” Adding slyly, “The cops can’t bust us if we don’t buy it!”

It was mostly Mel, Sylvia’s sister-in-law, who went on to recount the bitches carefully conceived deceptions, sensual mis-practices and her recreational treacheries. Mel was closest to Bill back then, and Suzie wasn’t even around, having been intentionally sheltered from those events by the family.

The three were moderately intoxicated but sober enough to navigate the streets of Quartzite if need be. Suzie wasn’t concerned, but Gigi, who had been so tired, was now energized and babbling. She had swallowed some Phen Phen when in the restroom.  She’d been prescribed the medication for weight loss but found it handy to keep awake whenever necessary for her job.

As the clock passed three, Suzie was about to leave, but instead she poured a final tall glass of wine for each of them, They shared a final toast, “Friend’s, together or apart, friends together forever.” It was an odd quote Suzie somehow recalled from her uncle’s first book, “Gradual Graduations.”

As tired as she was, Gigi, the city girl quietly pulled out and lit a slim, tightly rolled number with her engraved gold Zippo. She took a hit, coughed daintily, and passed it on to Suzie.

* Lennon, McCartney (All My Loving)

>~~~~~ 16 ~~~~~<

-dalton

7-17-26

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