A three-piece combo was off to my left, so I turned to my right, and began walking toward the bar. There were maybe a half dozen guys at the bar drinking, so finding a seat I sat down on a tree stump, and ordered a beer. Maybe I wouldn’t have to pay any rent on it. My beer came, and I took a swallow. Good. Real good.
I guess I must have been thirsty, and it was about then that Phil Richards came out of a cave-like door beside the bar and spotted me. He might have tried not to show it, but I could see a small curve to his lips, and there might have been a twinkle in his eyes, as he walked over to where I was sitting. He was casually dressed, and one lock of his grey hair was hanging down over his forehead.
“Welcome to the Grotto.” He started out. “We all thought you were long gone.”
“Couldn’t go,” I said.
“Oh,”
“I have some local commitments.”
“Oh, well, I understand. A man can’t leave town and just leave things hanging,” and he said it with a knowing smile. Like, well, like we both had a secret, and we were the only ones who knew about it.
“I’ve become your employee. The job still open?”
“Yes. C’mon over here to a table and let’s talk for a minute,” and we’d no sooner sat down than he started.
“This is a weeknight and I don’t expect any trouble, but still, I want you and the other boys here every night. Now you’ll have three other guys to help you, and they’re here right now. In just a minute, I’ll call them over. First, I want to tell you how I run the place.”
“Fights are always outside. Some local guys get into it, just take them outside and let them go to it. But I want you or one of the other guys to stick around and watch it. Sometimes guys get carried away and might kill each other. When you think a guy has taken enough punishment, you stop the fight.”
“Next. No guns, no knives. I got a sign outside the door, so if you see somebody packing, you take the weapon away from them, and return it when they’re ready to leave.”
“Next. We have a lot of young girls coming out here. We’re outside the city limits, and the sheriff don’t bother us. So, these girls are under your care,” and he saw my instant grin.”Yeah, some as young as seventeen, and if you see an older guy hitting on them, usually a kind word is enough. That’s it. You’re all set.”
He must have given a signal that I hadn’t noticed because like that quick, three guys pulled out chairs and sat down, I looked askance at Phil, so he began the introductions.
This big fella on your right is called Del, which is short for Delano. He says that he has never had a fight in his life but he was on the high school wrestling team so I figure he qualifies. The guy beside him is Lenny, and the third guy is Mark. Now mark is just a wee bit undersized, but he’s fairly clever about handling himself. You might teach them some of that stuff they had you in jail for. I looked around at the three men. They were all smiling, and none of them looked tough.
Phil wasn’t done talking. Now the way these boys have been working is to just scatter themselves around and act like customers. You can even talk to those young girls, just don’t diddle them. Don’t tell anyone you work here, but when trouble starts, just be ready. Jake here will tell you how he wants you to work. All the guys got up and left the table. The big guy, Del, stuck his hand out for me to shake. I smiled.
“So, what do you think?”
“Well,” I said, and I was hedging, “the guys look all right, and the club was a shock. It’s terrific. Makes me want to build one just like it. I have been in a lot of bars, and this is sure as hell a first.”
“It just came to me one night while I was doing some night fishing, out at Seneca Lake. I was just sitting there thinking about how some people are afraid of the dark, and then I thought about a guy in a jailhouse cell. He’s not afraid of the dark because he knows nobody can get him, and then I did a giant leap of logic and thought about redesigning my club, and piece by piece I got down to what you see.
“Everything is stucco or plastic. Tables and chairs, all plastic, but the rock formations are painted stucco.
“Nobody here in Guernsey County, has ever seen anything like it.”
“More like the whole world,” I put in.
“Well, I don’t mind telling you, I’m damn proud of it. You know some guys design buildings or bridges, or even paint pictures. I designed a nightclub. My club, my design.”
“I got to tell you, Phil. It’s some kind of wonderful,” and I meant every bit of it. I would enjoy working here. One thing for sure. In the event of a real barroom brawl, there were no chairs to throw or smash over someone’s head.
The way I was sitting, I could see the dance floor, but the figures were all dim, like ghosts, and that was because of the subdued lighting. But I thought I saw the face that went with those pretty eyes, dim? Yeah, but still pretty. I needed to caution myself. Keep my mind on business.
“Let me have the boys send you over another beer and you can just sit here and watch for a while, so you can just get the feel of the place.” I watched him walk back toward the bar, and that’s when I noticed the waitresses. They were wearing fur covered shorts and some kind of thing that came up to cover their boobies, but it only went over one shoulder, and then I had to smile as I remembered the comic strips. Caveman outfit. That Phil didn’t miss a trick.
Chapter 12
It turned out to be a quiet night. I nursed two beers through the whole night. There were no fights. Del, Lenny, and Mark all found time during the evening to stop by my table for a minute, but no one else bothered me, and my mind found its way over to the section that was concerned with Abe Roster.
Since it was practically certain that I would meet up with him, I got to wondering if he could fight. See how things had gone down in the bar. He had no real chance to display his ability. He hadn’t expected me to do what I did, so he didn’t have time to actually fight me. Maybe, just like me, he was looking forward to it.
Just before closing time, I noticed the four girls I had seen in the booth go out the front door. They’d be back, I thought.
After we’d buttoned the place up for the night, I got on my scooter and headed for the lake. I’d looked at some roadmaps during the day, so the trip was only fourteen miles. It was three o’clock in the morning when I arrived at my campsite, and a quick glance around the site told me everything was as it should be, so stripping off my clothes, I waded out in the lake to deep water and took a bath. Daylight might have been better because the sun would have warmed the surface of the water, but if someone spotted a guy swimming next to woods, with no boat around it might cause some talk. That night, for the first time in weeks, I dreamed of girls.
The next day was practically a ditto of my first day on the job. Del and Mark had gotten there early, so I showed them a couple moves that might be helpful in a fight. The rest of the time, while we waited for Phil to come and open up, we just shot the bull, and laughed at a couple jokes.
We all were eager for someone to start some trouble, but it never happened all week, and then came Saturday night. All hell broke loose. Fight. No. We’d waited all night for it to happen. All of us on edge. I didn’t know about the other guys, but this would be my first night to see some action as a bouncer. It never happened. The night went by without incident, except that is, until closing time.
The guys had just made their rounds, making sure that the building was empty of customers, and that no drunk was passed out under a table when two guys came through the front door with shotguns.
We all froze. Everybody in the building. Hands went up. The bandits didn’t have to say a word. We all knew the