Chapter 21

Morton Clark was a regular at our place. And he wasn’t exactly a stranger. He’d gone to school in Phoenix at the same time we had, well the same era, but he was a couple of years ahead of us. He’d been a bartender in the old days too, the old days being a few years back. He made his money driving a cab now: his career change having something to do with drinking on the job.

“Morty, Morty, Morty, how are the horses running for yuh?” I said.

“I got Sterling in the eighth at Hialeah,” he said. “If he comes in, I’m getting me a new Chevy.”

“Well, I’ll cross my fingers for yuh,” I said.

“Do so,” he said.

It was time for me to go home and for Marian to come on duty for the swing shift; Hank would be in a couple of hours later to be the closer. Leona was off for the evening. The good news for them was that the tips were bigger at night. I’d be back at closing to pick her up, my usual routine.

She’d seen the man but once before, and the daughter too. That was the time, but less than a month before, when they’d come in to announce to Julian that he was a father. But here he was again coming in, probably to talk to Julian who had already gone home. The man was about to be disappointed.

He came up to the bar and ordered a tap from Hank. The man was watching her. He nodded to her. Marian Carton raised an eyebrow. It appeared that he knew her. She knew who he was from what she’d heard in high school those years ago and from what she’d seen and heard and talked with Julian about in more recent times.

Hank had adjourned to the pool room across from the barroom per se. Blake Willis signaled her to come to him. The bar was empty at the moment.

“You need another one already?” said Marian, coming up to him.

“No, no,” he said. “I would like to have a word with you if you’d be so good as to hear me out,” said Blake Willis. She smiled, but it was a cold smile.

“We’ve never met, Mister Willis, but I do know who you are. Julian pointed you out that day when you came here, what, a month ago. Please get it. I’m on his side,” said Marian.

“Good,” said Blake. “That is partly why I’m here. He needs a woman on his side—badly!”

“Okay,” she said, “so why... ?”

“You’re on his side as you say. So am I. So is Ava. He hates me because I married Ava while he was helpless in prison. He was going to be in so long; well, I really did think I was doing the right thing. Well, and he disagrees.

“Then there is the matter of his daughter. We didn’t know Ava was pregnant until after Julian was arrested. We decided to not tell him so as to not add to his suffering. Another mistake, well, from his point of view,” said Blake.

“Okay, he hates you. So... ?” she said.

“Well, like I said, we want him to not hate us and to join the family, hopefully; and I mean with you in it, the family that is,” he said. Marian Carton rocked back against the backbar.

“I don’t know you, Mister Willis. But like I said, I’m on Julian’s side. His friends are my friends. His not-friends are not my friends,” she said.

“I’ve had you checked out, Marian. Can I call you Marian?” he said. She shrugged.

“I suppose,” she said.

“You had a bad time with your ex-husband. You’ve had bouts with cancer. You’re broke, or were until Julian got you on here.” He motioned around the room.

The two of them noticed Hank coming back in from the pool room.

“Look, can you take a break? I need to ask you something,” he said.

“Hank, I’m gonna take a few. Okay?” she said. Her partner nodded and took up bar duty.

The two conversationalists wandered over to a booth.

“Okay,” said Marian, “what do you want?”

“To get right to the point, we want you to help us get him to lighten up and maybe, maybe over time, forgive us and join the family as I mentioned a bit ago,” said Blake.

“Help you, me help you?” she said. The man nodded.

“You know that that would make Julian hate me too,” she said.

“Not if he were helping you which I know he wants to do; and, so far, has done, well, in a small way at least. Right?” said Blake.

“Not so small in my opinion. He saved me at a time when I was in need of saving,” she said.

“I know, like I said about the cancer, and about the mastectomy,” he said.

“Julian, knows about that. I told him. We just do the high school thing if you get my drift. It’s enough for us.”

“The high school thing?” he said.

“Yes, you know, clothes stay on,” she said. The man stared. He realized that she didn’t know about the big thing, not yet.

“Oh,” he said. “Well, okay. But for you to be safe, and secure...”

“I need a lot of luck, yeah I know,” she said.

Blake reached into the pocket of his blazer and pushed an envelope across the table to her.

“What’s that?” she said.

“Security,” he said. “Open it.” She did so, tentatively.

She stared at the check. “That’s a lot of money,” she said.

“No strings except that maybe you could, over time, help us to get the man to accept the well-deserved love of his family, including you,” said Blake.

“No strings?” she said.

“None,” he said. She was nodding.

“Mister Willis, no guarantees, but okay. I can try,” she said.

“That’s all we can ask. Here’s my card. Please, keep in touch,” he said. She took the card without looking at it, nodded, and then the man was gone.

Things were good. Marian seemed happier than ever, and by that, I mean even since high school. We were dating pretty regular, and yeah still high school style. I was getting to the point where I was considering outing myself as per my dicklessness. I had gotten to a place where I hated Juan Miranda even more than my ex-brother; well, actually it was a close thing.