“Still whatever, I guess. But I’m nights for the next couple of days anyway. Closing.”
“Ah.” Clive eyed him. “You still like nights better?”
“Maybe.” He considered. He knew it had been true, but he wasn’t sure if it was anymore. “Maybe it’s just what I was used to.”
“I’ll bet it’s a sight louder now, with all that,” Clive said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the stage.
That was true. “I’m getting used to it.” He didn’t care anymore, nights or days. He just wanted some consistency, one or the other. He yawned. “Hard to adjust back and forth like this.”
“I’ll bet. That lady’s dog still keeping you awake nights?”
“Yes, damn dog. I’m fed up with him. Leaving dead birds all over my porch, digging holes, staring at me through the window all the time… he just…” Daniel raised his hands in front of his face and made mock strangling motions. “Makes me crazy.”
“Yeah?” Clive pulled the pretzel bowl closer and picked several pretzels out. He held them in his hand, shaking them back and forth like dice. “You still haven’t talked to her about it, though.”
He hadn’t. “No point. She wouldn’t do anything anyway.”
“She might. You can’t know if you don’t ask her.”
“I don’t know why she has a dog, frankly. She ignores him completely, acts like he’s not even there most of the time. He’s not cheap to feed.” Daniel knew, because he’d snuck a forty pound sack of dog food into her pantry as a gift. Back when he’d thought she hadn’t paid her gas bill, that was. “She acts like he means nothing to her. I’ve never seen her pet him.”
“That’s too bad.” Clive tossed back the last of his drink and held the empty glass in his hands, running his finger around the rim slowly. “They say having a pet is really good for people, older people. Keeps them on their toes.”
After Clive left, Daniel thought about that, about Ellie being on her toes. He laughed at the image, but he knew it was true: pets were supposed to be a good thing for the elderly. For anybody, really. Petting one was supposed to lower your blood pressure and improve your mood. Maybe he could find a way to get Ellie more interested in the dog.
The band arrived like a pack of wild animals, and stood on the stage that way, looking out at the crowd. Us and Them. Daniel and the bar staff stood on the outside, not Us and not Them, just servants. Shotzy thumped his fist on the end of the bar and ordered some drinks, but didn’t even glance at Daniel when he handed them over. His eyes on the glasses, he mumbled a distracted “thanks dude” and went back to the band. He didn’t tip.
Gina wore her uniform as before, shirt tied into a halter that completely obliterated all but the first letter in the logo. She bounced up to the bar and gave Daniel an order. One of the men at the bar looked her up and down.
“Hey there, girlie. That’s a cute top you got there. Let me see that, turn around a little bit.”
Gina rolled her eyes, but turned and posed for the man. He stared at her chest.
“What’s it say there? Is that a ‘B’ for Boob?” He turned to the man next to him. “Lookit, she’s got a B for Boobie on her chest.”
The other man looked and laughed. “Sure enough. Hey, Gina, do you have an A on your ass too?”
Gina was not fazed. She turned and wiggled her hips at the men, and a hooting set up across the bar.
Daniel set out her drink order. “Don’t encourage them,” he muttered.
“Aw, who cares? If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Right?” She drew her shoulders back and shook her breasts at Daniel. “Don’t tell me you’re offended.”
“Not offended,” Daniel said, then stalled out. He’d annoy her or make himself look foolish no matter what he said, so he just waved her off and went back to his job. The band started in and it was impossible to hear the customers. For the men seated at the bar, it wasn’t an issue. They kept ordering refills, another round, another. Daniel had only to glance at them and he knew their order. These were regulars, the regulars he’d been so proud of, the ones they hadn’t lost. Yet.
But the new arrivals, the younger ones who were there for the band, they came at him in small, gibbering waves. He watched their faces and lips for clues. He carded them and got nasty looks.
Billy came and sat, watching the band play. “They’re good, right?”
Daniel nodded. They weren’t, as far as he could tell. But what did he know? He was, like the old men at the bar, out of date.
Gina flirted with Billy. He thought it was adorable that her shirt said B for Boobie. Daniel asked if it was really good for the logo to be hidden like that. Billy shrugged and told Daniel to lighten up.
When Daniel got home, it was well after one in the morning. Gringo was sleeping in the driveway. He sat up a little when Daniel started pulling in, but he didn’t get out of the way.
Daniel rolled up into the driveway slowly, expecting the dog to move. Soon enough, Daniel lost sight of him. He slowed down even more until he was barely creeping forward at all. Was he still in front of the car? He unrolled his window and stuck his head out, thinking he could see more that way, but it was no use. Eventually he got out of the car and looked. The space was bare. He wondered how long he’d been inching forward toward nothing.
Chapter 59
Ellie asked Daniel to lift the mantel clock down so she could dust underneath it. “I’m afraid I’d drop it,” she said. “Though I guess it wouldn’t matter all that much. Broken already, you see.”
The hands said 3:00, as they always did. It had never said anything else, all the time he’d been coming here. He’d assumed it needed winding. He suggested this now, but Ellie shook her head. It wasn’t that.
“I should get rid of it maybe, but I love that old clock. It belonged to my aunt, and it didn’t work even then. The little women sitting there, see them?” Ellie pointed to a cluster of figures painted delicately on the face, women seated in fancy dresses and a boy playing a mandolin. “Those dresses… I used to sit and daydream about wearing dresses like that.”
“You still could,” Daniel said. “If you could find them.”
“Oh, if I was a fool. That Victorian stuff is horrible to wear, really. So hot, you see. Beautiful though. My aunt Rosalie – this was her clock – she said her mother had dresses like these. They sold them, I think, to a costume shop.”
Daniel adjusted the clock on the mantel and ran his finger along the smooth, black edges. “You could fix this, take it to a clockmaker.”
Ellie shrugged indifferently. “I don’t need to know what time it is. I have nowhere to be anyway. If I did, I could wear a watch. I don’t like those much though, either, you see. Little slave-drivers, always trying to make you worried.”
“My mother wore her watch on the inside of her wrist.” She had said she thought it looked less like a watch that way, more like a bracelet, more decorative. Daniel thought she had done it to draw attention to herself. “Whenever anyone asked the time she had to make this elaborate gesture.” He demonstrated, and Ellie laughed.
“My mother had one that was a necklace. But it was upside down if you were looking at her; it was right side up when she looked down at it, you see. It was sort of pretty, though.”
They stood together and watched the mantel clock for a good while longer. The hands did not move.
Chapter 60
Shortly before lunch, Billy came to the bar with a young woman, and introduced her as Toni, with an i. “She’s going to be working part time on lunches, waiting tables. Helping out.”
Daniel eyed the girl. She didn’t look old enough to drink. He held a hand out. “Welcome.”
“Margie can start working with her today, showing her the ropes.” He patted the girl on the shoulder. “Let’s head to the back and I’ll show you where you can get changed.”
Daniel watched them go, wondering what Margie thought of it. When she came in to place an order, he asked her. S
he hadn’t heard about the new girl.
“You’re shittin’ me.”
“I’m not. Her name is Toni. That’s with an i. She’s in back getting changed. Billy said he was going to have you start showing her around today.” He glanced up at her as he said this last, then added, “She’s going to work lunches with you.”
Margie loaded her tray, shaking her head. “Great. Goddammit.” She stalked off with her order and came back about five minutes later.
“What’s she look like?” she demanded, peevish. Her free hand fiddled nervously around her hairline.
Daniel chewed his lip. “Well, she looks about sixteen, for starters. She’s cute, I guess. Petite. Blonde.”
“Oh, for…” Margie took a deep breath and let it out. “Well, I know where this is going.”
“You can’t know anything. Just be patient. Maybe it will be good.” He suspected it wouldn’t be, but he said it anyway. “You haven’t even met her. Maybe you’ll like her.”
She shook her head and moved off to wait on tables. The lunch crowd began to trickle in and seat themselves. Billy brought Toni to the bar and dropped her off with instructions for Daniel to show her how to get sodas from the soda gun and where to put her tray.
“I’ll get Margie to show her around. Meanwhile she can just sort of hang here with you and watch, you know. Get a feel for things.”
“Sure.” Daniel led her to the other end of the bar. He chatted with her and showed her how to use the soda gun. She nodded; she’d seen one of these.
“Where did you work before this?”
She nibbled on her fingertips nervously and giggled. “Well, I was working at my Dad’s office, just some filing and a little cleaning. But this will be a lot more fun, I’m sure! I always wanted to try waitressing.”
Ah. “So you haven’t waited tables before?”
“Nope! Well…kinda. I was a busgirl last summer for a couple of weeks.” She played around with the soda gun and overfilled her glass, giggling again and licking her fingers. “See, I remember this part.”
Daniel glanced around instinctively, hoping no customers had seen it. “Don’t – you’re not supposed to …” She’d need a server’s permit. She probably needed a health class, too. “Did Billy mention any certification or anything?”
“He said I had to be twenty-one to serve drinks. I’ll be twenty-one in a few days.” Toni tittered again and her fingers went right into her mouth once more. “Don’t tell anyone I’m not already. I won’t serve anything today.”
And had Billy mentioned learning the menu? No, he hadn’t. But she would take one home and practice. Had he given her a schedule? No, not yet. But she had classes, so she could only work certain hours.
“He said it was flexible.”
Lunch was in full swing now, and Margie blustered up to the bar with tickets. “Hey,” she said, glancing at Toni while she sorted her tickets out and handed them to Daniel.
“Hi! I’m Toni. With an i.” She stood very straight, as if for inspection.
Margie nodded at her. “So I hear. I’ll show you around in a little bit. We got kind of a rush going on right now. It won’t last long.” She loaded up her order and sped away. Daniel noticed the shorts she wore were not regulation. They were the same color, but a few inches longer. He wondered if Billy knew.
Toni let out a huge sigh. “She scares me!”
“Margie? She’s nice.”
“I’m afraid she’ll be like all…rawr,” Toni said, hooking her hands into claws and raking the air. “You know?”
Daniel shook his head, laughing. “She won’t be.” But he actually wasn’t sure. Maybe she would be.
Toni’s fingers went back to her mouth.
Chapter 61
Daniel knelt in the bathroom, scrubbing the grout in the corner with a toothbrush. Ellie stood in the doorway, watching.
“You’re very kind to me, Strawberry.”
He nodded. “I am. You should thank your lucky stars.”
“I do. I never thought to use a toothbrush for the corners. Did your mother teach you that?”
She had. She had taught him to clean with a toothbrush, and to use toothpaste on jewelry, and to wash the inside of the refrigerator with vinegar. He rarely did these things, but he never forgot he was supposed to.
“That’s what makes men, I think,” she said. “Women, too. All made of the things they’re taught by their mothers.”
He sat back on his heels and looked up at her. “What about fathers?”
“I don’t know. That too.” She lit a cigarette. “I was probably taught a lot of things I never learned. I know I learned a lot of things I wasn’t taught.”
“Some of the stuff my mother taught me was bullshit,” Daniel said, getting up and rinsing his hands. His mother had taught him it was bad luck to keep an unused candle in the house. He’d driven his ex crazy, obsessively lighting every new candle she brought in. But I wanted those to stay clean, she’d said, pouting. He didn’t keep candles around anymore. “My ex… she was always knocking on wood.”
“Oh, we did knock on wood, of course. Only my mother said ‘touch’ wood.” She grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Come sit on the porch with me, Daniel. You don’t have to be at work today. Sit and tell me more. Why are unburned candles supposed to be bad luck?”
He followed her and sat, but he didn’t know the answer. Ellie lit a cigarette and passed it to Daniel, then poured them each a glass of wine. They smoked in silence for a while. Gringo came and sat with them. It was hot and there was almost no breeze, and the dog panted heavily. Daniel remarked on the injustice of having to wear a fur coat in the summer.
“At least he can pant,” Daniel said. “I wish I could cool off that way.”
Ellie dragged heavily on her cigarette. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “It’s not even hot out here, really. Try Texas, with the humidity. That’s a fur coat for you, suffocating.” She sighed and ground out her cigarette.
Daniel drank his wine. “It’s supposed to be like this all week.”
She lit another cigarette.
Chapter 62
Margie leaned on the bar. It was a slow day. “Where’s Toni?”
“She left early, I think.”
“Oh well. Of course she did.” Toni had been there for over a week and had not helped with the side work even once. “She comes in late and leaves early every day. Why am I not surprised?”
“You don’t like her?”
Margie narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s not that I don’t like her.”
“But you don’t.”
“That’s not the point.” Margie reached across the bar and took a celery stick from Daniel’s setup. The issue was that the new girl always missed out on the work. Margie came in before opening and sliced the lemons, Margie set everything up, Margie helped Daniel with his glasses. And then when the customers came in, Toni got half of the tables.
“And she sucks at it. She’s slow, she screws up most of the orders.” She paused, chewing celery. “And then she fucking leaves, doesn’t help clean up, doesn’t do any prep...”
“Yeah. Well, she’s got that class.”
Margie made a face. “Yeah. Right. College. She’s dumb as a box of kittens.”
Daniel laughed. “Little bit, yeah.”
“Little bit. That would be a good name for her: Little Bit. Little bit late, little bit spoiled... But she gets the tips. Man, the old guys just eat her up, you notice?”
He had. She continued to nibble her fingers and suck on her thumb all the time too. Daniel suspected some of the guys were turned on by it.
“Meanwhile, I get scraps. This really sucks, I can’t afford it. He’s trying to run me off, I know.”
“No.” Daniel waved his hand. “It’s not you.” Billy had hired Toni because he was friends with her brother. Didn’t Margie know that? Maybe she didn’t. He opened his mouth to ask, but the r
oar of an argument in the kitchen stopped him.
It was impossible to make out the details, but it was clearly Billy and Bud, first shouting, then yelling. There was a lull followed by a great slam of the back door. Margie made a face. “Must have been Billy. Bud never slams the doors.” The slam of the office door right after that proved her wrong.
“Never say never,” Daniel said. They both coughed up some nervous laughter.
The office door was closed the rest of the day. Margie came to Daniel at the end of her shift to ask how she was supposed to punch out. He wasn’t sure. He looked at the clock. The night shift would be arriving any minute, as well. He went to the office and cracked the door like a man braving the lair of an enemy.
“Bud?”
Bud sat staring at his desk. Papers were piled high and deep. He looked up briefly. “Danny. What’s up?”
“I’m sorry… we need to get in here. For the time clock. OK?”
“Oh.” Bud ran his hands along the sides of his face and up through his thinning hair. “Christ, is it that time? Sure… sure… come in.”
Daniel opened the door and motioned to Margie, who tiptoed in and out as though it was a hospital room. Bud rubbed at his face again as Daniel punched his time card, then asked if he had heard the fight.
“Just some yelling, was all.”
Bud sighed. “He’s mad at me, you know. He thinks I’m an old fool, can’t take care of my own self.”
“Yeah?”
Bud stared at the wall and said nothing. Daniel stood uncomfortably for a few minutes, then patted Bud on the shoulder and turned to go. That was when he spotted the Senior Living pamphlets in the trash can, pamphlets like he’d seen on Billy’s clipboard months ago. He wondered if Bud knew Billy had been looking into it all that long time ago, or if he thought it was a new idea. He looked back at Bud, then at the pamphlets again. Bud never took his eyes off the wall, but he shook his head slowly back and forth.
“Not going,” he said. “I’m doing fine on my own.”
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