The door swung open slowly, a man
dressed in a long black coat and odd
gray pants entered the bar, running his hand through his
slicked back hair as the
loud chatter dropped into a silent hum. Tables were spread
across the room, but the
man waded on through the crowd, standing tall with a large
grin painted on his face,
obviously more proud of his presence than those that stared
him down seemed to
be.
He sat down
at the bar, a grustly old fellow with a patchy five o’clock shadow,
a leather vest, and a “mom” tattoo stitched into his arm
threw himself onto the stool
next to him, definitely looking for trouble. To the old
brutes surprise he was greeted
with a handshake and a smile, rather than sweat drops or the
stench of fear.
Retracting his hand the man introduced himself as Jack, and
before the brutish man
could refuse, Jack had bought him a drink. Despite the odd
composition the two of
them got along together quite well, and within minutes you
never would have
guessed they were two complete strangers. The two’s laughter
filled the silence still
hovering over the bar, and soon everyone else joined in on
the fun as well.
Jack spun around
in his stool, facing the crowd that was gathering, revealing
a deck of cards and his ever-smiling face. People gathered
around him, and he
bought each man a drink. He began to show off various magic
tricks and told
multiple jokes that caused waves of ‘Guffaws’ to roar
through the bar. He told tales
of grand adventures, and stories of lovely women. Everyone
was having a jolly
good time, laughing, and in some cases crying; Everyone took
a liking to Jack
extremely quickly. But this was all before his first drink.
Soon he began insulting
people instead of telling jokes, then he began to insult
people’s mothers.
Jack
teetered back and forth, his cheeks rosy red and his eyelids drooping as
he knocked back another shot. A young man dressed in a plaid
button up shirt stood
in the corner, secluded from the rest of the crowd, but was
soon interrupted as Jack
stumbled into him. Jack closed him into the corner, howling
insults and spewing
obscenities of all sorts, and quickly Jack had turned it
into a game of fists. The others
that had gathered around shook their heads in shame, unable
to truly believe this
was the same Jack who told jokes and bought them their
drinks. It took a group
effort to pull Jack away from the lad, but it was easy
enough to guide him to the bar
door.
Jack
tumbled through the door, much less elegantly than how he had entered,
tripping over his long coat and landing on the gravely
sidewalk. Jack laid crumpled
on the ground, the darkness of the night only being pierced
by the small crack in the
bar door. Muffled laughs erupted from within as Jack
questioned why things always
ended up this way, and why he was able to make so many
friends, but not keep
them.
After a few
moments Jack stood tall once again, looking much like he had
when he entered the bar earlier that evening, teetering back
and forth, his memories
of the night had been dismissed as being dreams. He began to
stumble into the night
in a drunken haze, prowling for another bar, or perhaps a
nice place to crawl into
and sleep until the next night of fun would arrive.
