~Tuesday Afternoon In The Cherry Pit

As if it wasn't enough to have the wallpaper peeling off in the humidity, or a spring just ready to pop in each of our rubbishy chairs and stools, but now Dom had to spill blood all over the bar.
Beer stains and blood just don't mix, but here he sat, lying in a his own puddle clutching a cut thumb.
I told him not to open the can of cat food so quickly but, he doesn't listen to me.
Price is somking, filling the cieling with the thick yellow smoke.  I point to him with my dish cloth and ask him t stub it out, but he doesn't listen.
nobody listens here.
Jaun does though, our work experience boy, my private sex slave. His cleaning up Dom's mess, thank goodness.  Its sticky and smells something terrible, not that it would get rid of any of our customers... All two of them.
The other isn't a regular so I've got no idea what his name is, or what the hell his doing in this dive.  his just sitting, cutting up an old newspaper and burning the individual articles.
Is Dom drunk all ready? its only noon, he should lay off the hooch, its no way for a manager to act around his staff.
Who am I trying to kid.
light trickles through the grimy windows in the way you'd expect from an inner city cafe.
Nothing's gonna wake the fool, his dead asleap.  I poke Dom some more, just for kicks and giggles.
our non-regular, Buddy or Mick or something, is throwing stamps on the cieling with a coin, Price is slowly drinking whiskey and pretending to read.  You can tell when Price is pretending to read, because he always holds the books upside down.  Dom is still steadily bleeding all over the bar, little brown dots are starting to speckle the floor. Jaun is cleaning glassess and hanging them on the back shelf.
Otherwise, nothing is happening.  nothing's unusual, its just like everyday.
Like some Bob Marley song Dom begins to whistle but is drowned out as a train rattles over head.
A couple walk in to the cafe and buddys coin drops with a tinkle.  Even Price looks up from his book, obviously enthralled in which ever text his hidden himself in this time.  Their all over each other, obviously a young couple, what with the kissing and all.  Dom stops whisteling and rolls his head over towards the door, dried blood covers one side of his face, and his hair has turned almost to dreadlocks with that damned mess.  His brave, to put his head down on the bar, I'll tell you.
The couple start looking at the sheleves in that way that makes you realise they aren't customers.  They pick up one book, look at the title and put it back, going through the shelves and messing up all my work.  To be honest, its Jauns work, but lets not dabble in the details.
Suddenly, or atleast right after puting down a book, the boyfriend turns to me and asks if I have some author i've never heard of.
I reply and they leave.
Its just Price, Dom, Mick, Jaun and I; Flicking coins, pretending to read, cleaning glassess and slowly bleeding away.
Dom asks me if have any band aids, as if it was just the time of day to ask for medical assistance.  There aren't any band aids though, but he isn't to bothered.
Dom asks me if I have any Carona, but his obviously not had enough to drink if he want's beer so I give him a gin and tonic to heal his wounds.
Afternoon light is always so half hearted.  Allthough warmer than mid-day sun, more orange, brighter too, its just so effortless.  Afternoon light is the only type that comes into are bar, its a welcome customer, even if it never stops for a drink.
That and rain, except rain isn't so welcome inside the bar, even if it manages to sneek in through the damn back door.  Not that we'll ever kick somebody out.  Dom would, but thats just his way.
Does anybody want a coffee? I ask pointlessly.  Everybody wants coffee, coffee and wine.  actualy, mostly wine.  a round of reds go around, Buddy joining us in a drink to another day.
Its Tuesday afternoon, we all agree its a good excuse to get drunk and do so rather more swiftly than this cafe should be able to.
Dom's fallen asleap, Price went home, or to which ever gutter he sleeps in.  Mick, after taking off all the wine skins and sticking them to teh bar stool legs was taken away by the police for possession of drugs.  Jaun was fired for tipping off the cops on our only customer.  I take some of the left over weed and promise to sell it on for some rent money as soon as possible.
overall a pretty profitable day.
~
Nobody likes mornings, not even morning like mornings.  hangovers do I suppose, but I've got enough class to never be in the position to have hangovers at any other time. I should ask Dom if he hang overs in teh evening or if they hang about untill morning.
His fingers finaly bandaged up, an old smoke stained hanky is wrapped around it and has stemmed the blood flow enough for him to get a few Marlbroughs in his lungs before breakfast.
For a moment some life comes into his eyes, he looks to me, then my breasts then slumps back into his chair.
"I..." he starts, looking back at me with his terribley vacant eyes.  I think his going to go somewhere with 'I', but he stops and takes another drag.
"I..." he takes a breath "I haven't seen a girl in two weeks."  He talks so slowly, as if we have all the time in the world.  Which we do.  I ask him if his looked outside recently and he exclaims that it requiers effort.  I ask him about the girl he was with the boy yesterday and he reply's with a confused look.  I'd bother to point out I'm a girl, but frankly I don't think he realy consdiers his cousin a girl.  and I'm sure that just a girl is what his after.
Perhaps if we got more customers in, we'd atleast have a fifty percent chance of them being female.  taking out a notebook from his age yellowed suit he notes
-Need more customers.
I suppose we could invite them, i've only been in the U.K for a few months, is kidnapping ilegal or not?  Only if you take care of their pets whilst their in hostage Price answers, waltzing through the door in his orriental dressing gown and pipe.
Hugh Heffner couldn't have made the same entrance, Hugh Heffner never lost his whole family.  We tried to help, I looked behind the sofa cushions and Dom checked under the rug, or had just passed out beside the rug, but we couldn't find them either.
Its lunch time before anybody talks again, Dom's no doubt considering kidnapping some young thing off the street, but more probably considering what else brings in customers.
shoes, shoes bring in customers, everybody likes shoes.  From out basement cafe we can see thousands of pairs walk along the pavement, everybody loves shoes, everybody we know wheres them.
I point out to Dom that we only know Price, Jaun and now Mick.  He nods carefully to this knowing his point still remains.
We need more customers.
"I need more sleep.  And some more cigarettes too."
Its quiet time for you.

(FIN)