(The Second Beer, The Waiting Downfall)

NOW

(Evan)

I opened the creaky door to the old office and took the check out of my pocket. I put it on the desk in front of Uncle Davey. He was sitting there, flipping through a new calendar of half naked women.

“Are you looking at the women or the cars?” I asked.

Uncle Davey looked up at me. “Both.”

“Check out this payment.”

He leaned forward and squinted his eyes. When he did, his bottom lip quivered. “Well, damn. That’s a good one.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Figured I’d show you before I hit the bank.”

“Bank. Fuck the banks. Crooks.”

“Right,” I said. “Tell you what, how about I cash this and go to Vegas. Blow it all in a weekend.”

“A weekend?” Uncle Davey asked. “I could spend that in one night back in my day.”

“Back in your day,” I said. “You haven’t left this town in twenty years.”

Uncle Davey pointed to the check. “Go to the bank, Evan. Then get back to work.”

“I see you’re working hard,” I said.

Uncle Davey shifted in his seat and rubbed his right knee. He let out a groan and leaned back with a sigh. He grabbed the calendar. “If you don’t mind, I have a little date here with…” He put the calendar an inch from his face. “With… uh… Cherry. Cherry?” He lowered the calendar. “Who the hell names their daughter Cherry? Christ. This world is going to hell…”

“I knew a Cherry once,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She was nice. Slipped her an extra twenty and she gave me a nice dance.”

Uncle Davey started to laugh. That deep, old car starting sounding laugh. Years of smoking, drinking, and breathing in grease and tools gave Uncle Davey that distinctive laugh.

“See you later,” I said.

“Hey, uh, Evan,” he called out as I opened the door.

“What?”

“It’s a damn shame what happened to that girl,” Uncle Davey said. “The drugs. The drinking. The accident.”

“She wasn’t the only one wrapped up in the mess.”

“Either way, it’s a shame. You haven’t looked right since you got back here. You missing her or something?”

“No. Just, uh, life…”

Uncle Davey scoffed. “Life? You’re young, Evan. Wait until you get to be my age. Everyone starts dropping like flies. And you just sit in a chair and wait.”

“Hey, at least you have good company,” I said and pointed to the calendar.

“That I do,” he said and lifted the calendar. “Cherry… let’s see if we can get you to turn around and show us the front…”

I shook my head, a little grossed out that the old man was eye humping a car calendar. Hell, if I really wanted to get him going I could have shown him that his cell phone had internet. That he could search for anything he wanted.

But if I did that, he’d probably end up going bankrupt, never show up to the shop, or he’d search for something crazy and give himself a heart attack.

I laughed as I walked to my truck.

Business was steady, the work going great, life moving forward. My paycheck cleared every Friday. The bar on the corner was open when I needed it to be. The beer was ice cold, the drafts cheap. What else could I ask for?

There’s always one thing…

I got back to the shop an hour later after grabbing a bite to eat.

I went to work on the next project and worked later than I should have.

Uncle Davey shut the lights off on me as I was in the middle of welding. It scared the hell out of me and I almost burned myself. I ripped my mask off and threw my gloves to the floor.

“What the fuck?” I screamed across the open floor.

His lumbering figure stood in the doorway, leaning hard against his cane.

“What are you doing here?”

“Working.”

“Go home.”

“No.”

“Jesus Christ, Evan,” his voice echoed. “Get a drink. Find a woman.”

“You go home,” I said. “Take your calendar and buy some fancy lotion.”

Uncle Davey turned the lights back on and started to walk toward me. I thought about meeting him halfway, but I said fuck it. I leaned against the counter and folded my arms.

Uncle Davey shuffled his way to the fridge and opened it. He grabbed two bottles of beer and slammed the fridge shut. He walked the rest of the way toward me like a slug, inch by fucking inch, wasting seconds off my life.

He slammed the two bottles on the table where I had been working.

“I’m gunna tell you a story,” he said.

“Great,” I said.

“You better wise up soon or I’m going wrap this cane around your head.”

I gritted my teeth.

Fair enough, old man.

“Can I at least have a beer?”

Uncle Davey nodded.

I took one of the beers and twisted off the cap.

The first swig was always the best.

“I let one slip away,” Uncle Davey said. “Years and years ago. She was too good for me, Evan. Or I thought she was. She was obsessed with me. Her family had a little money. Her father was a businessman. He actually liked me. Go figure. Here I was, this poor kid trying to work a wrench and save enough to take his daughter out on a date. Right? I remember one night he sat me down and wanted to know how I felt about his daughter. I thought it was the talk where he would tell me to stay away. But he told me he wanted happiness. For everyone. You know, he offered me a job? Offered me and her a chance to move just outside Erie. I would run one of his factories. Great job. I’d be pulled right into the family business.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Uncle Davey lifted a greasy, crooked finger and touched the side of his head. “This. My brain. My head. A deep sense of stupid pride, Evan. I didn’t want a handout. That’s what I said. Over and over. Caused problems between me and her. I insulted her father. Then he moved her away. Took her away. At least that’s what I felt he did. Truthfully, he moved his family where he needed to be. Guess where?”

“Outside Erie,” I said.

“Bingo. He wanted me there so me and his daughter wouldn’t be apart. I was stubborn. Foolish. Goddamn thick blood running through our veins, Evan. Makes us do stupid things.”

“So what happened, Uncle Davey?”

“I drove out there. What a fucking drive that was. My truck broke down every fifty miles. Took me forever. I got out there to see her and… I lost my chance, Evan. She was being courted by another man.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Good looking man in a suit.”

“And that stopped you?”

“I thought about punching the guy out. But I thought about what her father said. Happiness. She looked happy. So I left. And that was that.”

“You never saw her again?”

“I looked her up a few times. She had five kids with that man. Her father died in a plane accident. So that man took over the business. Sold most of it for a lot of damn money. So he could spend time with his family. Last I knew, they were somewhere in California. Not even sure if she’s still alive or not. Not that it matters.”

“For the record, she would have been better off with you,” I said.

“Yeah. Sure. Look at this empire of mine.”

“I don’t think money and all that shit matters when you find the right one.”

“She found the right one.”

“Maybe she just found another one,” I said.

Uncle Davey slapped his cane off the table. It boomed with a thundering echo. “Why the fuck do you think I’m talking to you? Huh? Don’t be stupid, Evan. You’re not going to live in this shop and let time waste away. There’s been enough years wasted in these bricks.”

“Fine. I quit.”

“I’m gunna walk around that table and smack some sense into you.”

“Bring it,” I said. I pointed to the other beer. “Or maybe just have your beer and go home.”

“That one is yours too,” Uncle Davey said. “I know you’re too stubborn to do what I say.”

“Then why waste your time and mine talking?”

“So I could say I fucking tried, Evan,” he growled. “Goddamn fool.”

He turned with a scowl on his face… but there was a quick fraction of a second where I thought I saw him smirk. I watched as Uncle Davey walked away, leaving the door open behind him.

I stared at my bottle of beer. I picked at the label, curling my lip. See, I never had a father to guide me through life. I barely even had a mother, too. I was more of a hinderance to everyone I met and masked that by being the cool guy. The dumb ass willing to do anything for a cheap smile.

Sometimes Uncle Davey told stories just to tell them. Sometimes they had a deeper meaning. So what the hell had he been trying to tell me? That I should go after Adena? Figure things out? Then again, what if she found her so-called other one and had a good life?

The first beer went down fast. I stared at the second bottle and knew that was a test. If I had that one, I’d go for another. And I’d end up sleeping here. Right here at work. Alone. In an old building filled with ghosts. Or I could pass up that beer and do…

“What?” I whispered.

I looked around the shop.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

It wasn’t exactly the fate I could have hoped for, but as I twisted the cap off that second beer, my decision made, something happened.

My phone started to ring.

A number on the screen I didn’t know.

Something told me to answer it…