Carlo Rienzi's Personal Log

Posted on Fri 19th May, 2017 @ 4:38am by Carlo Rienzi
Edited on Fri 19th May, 2017 @ 4:44am

545 words; about a 3 minute read

(Private)

Dhuro scared the bejeezus out of me tonight. I've never seen him look like that--kind of sad and sick and furious all at the same time. He told me he wanted to be left alone, so when I brought his Kanar to him I also brought him a glass of water--no pitcher--and had a waitress keep refilling it when I couldn't. Because, yeah, I obey people's wishes that way. Tell me to ignore you in my bar. Hmph!

And then he asked for a second half-carefe of Kanar. That black stuff is strong. I don't know how he was able to walk straight when he finally left. On the other hand, we did keep refilling his water glass, so maybe we did him some good.

And he still wouldn't talk to me. I told him flat-out I wasn't going to let him have a third one. Way to kill your liver. Then I walked him home. Dead silence with a "thank you" at his door.

I don't think this is over his wife. He's fine talking about her. Dude looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to kill something or cry this evening.

It's scary when the customers don't talk. That's half of what being a bartender is, you know? I'm there to listen. Sometimes I can help. Usually, drunk guys talk all over the place--about their love life or lack thereof, dead friends, their jobs, money troubles, you name it; you can't shut them up. When they don't talk, and when they drink in ways they don't usually drink, something's badly wrong.

I'm guessing a patient died. I didn't have too many regulars at Mojo's who were doctors; in fact, I can't think of any, it being a gay dive bar in a bad part of Manhattan. But I can imagine. Maybe his scalpel went too deep, and he couldn't stop the bleeding in time. Who knows?

Anyway, I went to the Starbase Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday. Seems there are big doings in store for Vanguard--to wit, someone's building a casino. That should bring in lots of business, though I'm not sure it's the kind I want. Fools who'll throw their money away on gambling will throw it away on drinks, too. I want 10-42 to stay more of an easy-go9ing, family place; I don't want a lot of jaded rich idiots--or newly-poor idiots--coming in here. People like that usually cause nothing but trouble. I had enough of that crap at Mojo's.

Also, the barge company on Deck 1551 is opening up. It's run by Ferengi, one of whom came to the meeting--an older guy named Trav. If all I'd done was sit there with my eyes closed, I'd never have pegged the guy for Ferengi; he comes across as just a very happy older gentleman. The barges will be home to two of their Slug & Grub restaurants. Can't say that makes me want to rush over there to chow down. But it sounds as if they'll be serving some non-Ferengi foods, too, so that will make it tolerable.

Well, I'm beat, so I'm heading to bed now. I think I might look up Reon and see if he wants to explore the casino at some point.

 

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