He staggered in at a little past 2 a.m., and given that it was what he likes to call "a school night" I knew something must have gone terribly wrong. He was listing like a Spanish galleon, and looked a little worse for the wear, and I decided to try to handle him the best I could before he caused too much of a scene. I didn't need a 2:30 a.m. visit from Felix and his boys. I met him close to the door, and boomed "GI so glad to see you gracing my fine establishment. What brings you down here to the docks to drink among the peasants at such a late hour?" He trained his bleary eyes on me "piss off with the fancy talk Sully, you know why I'm here, at least you should if you have a calendar handy, and posses the ability to read it. Which I actually somehow doubt, men like you are only worried about the 1st of the month when all the money you are owed comes due, and you have to figure out how many legs you need to order to be broken." I took a step back, "that seems a bit harsh GI, even for you. You know I run a honest business, and abhor violence. I am a man of peace." That brought a harsh laugh from him "sure thing Gandhi, now peacefully let me find a place to sit down, and then peacefully bring me a turbo, and then bugger off and let me drink in peace, man of peace my arse."
I lead him to the booth in the back, the one nearest the restroom figuring that he would need to be close to it when all the booze he'd clearly had caught up to him, and it was also the one I could just fold him into and let him sleep it off with the least amount of trouble, it wouldn't be the first time he'd done it. "Certainly GI, might I recommend the booth near the facilities?" Again he laughed "you mean the one closest to the shitter in case I have to puke? And the one I can sleep in without too my fuss? Lead on Sully there are beers that are dying to be drunk, and before you ask" here he pulled a wad of bills from his coat pocket and waved them around "I've got the coin to pay for them." I considered this to be good news, usually the bastard was piss drunk, and piss poor. I didn't bother to ask where or how he'd gotten the money, that wasn't my business. I figured the less I knew, the less I'd have to tell anyone who asked, and I didn't fancy a night out 'dancing' with Felix and his goons. I'm too old, and have robbed too many banks for that shit. "Well, this is an even greater pleasure then GI, your company, and the money to make it bearable!"
"Just get out of my way Sully, I can find the booth myself, and get me a damn drink. I'd rather die of drink than of thirst." I moved out of his way, and made my own way to the bar. I waved the bartender over, "Tomas, pour GI one of his turbos, and make him a cup of coffee, he will be needed one or the other if not both. I'll take them over myself, no wait that will make him suspicious, or rather more suspicious. Betsy (not her real name, or at least I don't think it is, but good help is hard to find) GI likes you well enough, for a blonde, be a good lass and take these drinks over to his table. Whatever you do, don't make eye contact with him, or you'll be stuck there the rest of the damn night, or morning or whatever you call this time of day/night. If he's doing anything particularly stupid let me know, and I'll come over and sort him. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to." Betsy nodded, and took the tray of drinks over to his table without incident, came back to the bar and said "he's just sitting there talking to himself, or at least there's no one with him, but he seems to be carrying on quite the conversation." I nodded "thanks Betsy. He's known to get lost in his own head from time to time, and when he's tight it has a tendency to spill out verbally. It's most gibberish, and makes sense only to him, but every now and then he says shit he shouldn't."
I snapped my fingers, "Tomas you know what to do, go over there quite like and sit your ass down in the booth behind him and listen. No wait" I looked at Tomas' considerable girth. "That would be like asking him to miss a mountain, and I don't think he's quite drunk enough for that yet. Go get one of the kitchen boys, the smallest one if you can manage it, and bring him to me." Tomas nodded and soon returned with a small, rather dirty lad that fit the bill perfectly. I looked at him, nodded my approval and sent Tomas back to the bar. He would find out the full story tomorrow without me telling him, Tomas is like that, he learns all sorts of shit that he probably shouldn't and one day it's probably going to get him killed. "Okay lad, I need you to wander slowly over to that booth" here I pointed to the one behind GI "and sit your ass down nurse this beer, and listen to what he says. Can you read and write boy?' He nodded, "good here's pencil and paper, if you can write it all down, and bring it back to me. Don't be obvious, and don't make in sudden moves. The man might look drunk, and he is, and he might look harmless, but he's not. So be careful, and do a good job, and there will be a little extra in your pay packet come Friday."
I didn't tell the damn fool that I had noticed the obvious bulge in GI's left coat pocket, and had sussed out what that meant. I didn't feel the need to scare him that badly. Besides it was my hope that I was mistaken and it was just another wad of cash carelessly wadded up and stuffed in the most accessible pocket. A few minutes passed, and I kept one eye trained in GI's direction. The boy seemed to have settled in behind GI without notice, and was busy scribbling what looked to be his life's history, as GI's arms moved about a bit in time with his head moving. Clearly he was have an animated discussion with someone that only he could see. I hoped it wasn't anything too serious, crazy, or worse something that he was supposed to be saying out loud. Betsy soon came by on her rounds to report that he was downing the beer like it was mother's milk, but hadn't touched the coffee. I had expected that, he wasn't blurry enough to not care what was in front of him yet. "Bring him another round of both, raise the turbo level on the beer just a touch, it will be the last one we give him. Or at least one that isn't a small beer."
Betsy did as I requested, came back and said "Umm, there's a revolver on the table, and he's still talking to himself. Should we do something?" I sighed, my guess had been right. "Tomas, go fetch Roscoe for me, and then recall our little "listening post." I need to read what he's heard so far. Tomas nodded came back with Roscoe, and I slid him into my coat pocket just to be safe. A dangerous drunk with a gun wasn't something that I needed on a random Thursday night. The boy made his way back handed me his "homework" and said "he seems to be telling some crazy story about two people named Rome, and Readel I can't make any sense of it, but it seems important to him." I nodded as I begin to read what he had written, nothing in it made a whole lot of sense if you didn't know GI, but I knew him and despite the boy's poor spelling and dodgy grammar, I made enough sense of it to be slightly alarmed, and a mental note to educate the boy a little better. "Here Betsy let me take him another round over to him, just the beer though the coffee is useless at this point." I walked over to him he was muttered about horses or some shit, I knew what that meant as well. "Don't you think you're taking this if people are horse bullshit just a little too far?" He glanced up, smiled and said "well Sully we will see, I mean not every bet is a winning bet. You just have to make sure you don't bet more than you can lose." I looked down at him, go to the men's room you daft cunt, you've spilled beer on yourself." He looked down starting to disagree when I poured just about a fourth of the pint I had brought him onto his coat. "Whoops clumsy of me. You know we don't have a fucking back door, so don't try to bounce on the tab, clean up and come back and I'll top this one off for you on the house." He reached down for his revolver, "leave it, ain't no one in here to steal it, and no one is going to try to kill you in the damn toilet" I patted my own coat pocket "and I've got me own iron."
He nodded, I was thankful he had enough sauce in him not to argue, and toddled off to the bathroom. Both of us knew what I was doing, but at least he had the sense to do it. I grabbed his revolver, emptied it, and placed it back on the table, he gave me ample time to do it before he came back to the booth. Nodding his thanks for the beer (wink, wink), he picked up his pistol, hefted it, nodded knowingly to me, and said "well, I guess I need to be heading home." Grabbing the coffee and drinking it down in one long gulp he said "thanks for the beer Sully, here's your coin, minus of course the cost of the bullets you just took off of me." Grinning I replied "you're welcome GI, now get the fuck out of here, and make your bosses proud by showing up on time tomorrow like a good boy." "The last thing my bosses think of me is as a good boy Sully, but I'll do my best. See you next Thursday."
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