The Bartender

Rambling stories of people at the bar, music recs, and melodic musings. (Names changed to protect privacy of the people involved.)

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Me? I work the bar by night, listen to music by day, and I find my peace in the mixture of the two.

Got a question about music, drinks, or life in general? Then ask me a question, and you might well get yourself an answer.

In any case, you'll find me here on Tuesdays.

--B

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Would you look at that. Old Joe left another bundle of papers. Looks like another short story. This one by Charles Bukowski.

Well, I guess I've got something to read with my morning coffee, tomorrow.

Let me know if you want to know what it's about.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

For some reason, watching old Joe and thinking about stories has got me thinking of Miles Davis.

https://t.co/dYLjBKoIyf

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

That’s whiskey ginger #4 for old Joe. I’d guess he’s about ready to pack it up for the evening.

Seems a little quieter than usual, though. One of those nights where he takes more notes than he reads.

Planning a new story, perhaps?

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Old Joe just shook his head and went back to reading his book.

Funny. The gesture made me think of an old train conductor.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 Roland just looked at Joe and said, “I don’t even know what that means, Joe.”

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Old Joe sipped his drink, then said: “A lot of authors write stories they didn’t know they’d written.”

I... I don't quite know what he means by that.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

The whiskey ginger is a simple drink, but there's a subtlety to it that's important. The secret is finding a point of quiet satisfaction.

The drink has to taste just like it always has. That’s the trick of it. Consistency.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Old Joe came in and took his spot at the counter. I passed him his book and story. It’s good, I said.

I said I didn’t know Camus wrote a story about a winter night’s train station, but he just grinned and asked for the usual. A whiskey ginger.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Old Joe is usually here around 21:30, so I guess I'll ask him about the story then.

Hope you'll all be here when I do.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 The girl looks out at the melting snow, and jumps on the next train headed back home.

But where the girl goes next, or what happens to the old man, we never find out.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 So the two of them simply sit in that little office watching the snow again, until the girl falls asleep.

When the girl wakes up, the old man is gone. There's a different conductor instead, and he says the old man went home.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 The old man, the conductor, he says she looks just like his daughter. And there's something sad in his eyes, but the girl doesn't know what.

She asks him. “What happened to your daughter?” But the old man just shakes his head.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 The girl and the old man sit in the office watching the snow. She tells him she’s run away from her family.

She doesn't tell him why, and she hides the cuts and bruises under her coat and scarf. She just tells him she’s had enough of her old life.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 He tells her there's no taxis, no buses, no nothing. Just a train that won't run again until morning.

But he sees her there shivering, and so he invites her to sit in his office. It’s small, but it's got a heater in it.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 She watches it snow outside the train window, gradually getting heavier and heavier.

The last stop on the line is in some old country town. It's close to midnight, and the conductor, an old man, tells her traffic has stopped.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 So a young girl catches the wrong train and decides to ride it anyway.

Thing of it is, she’s running away from home, so what does she care which direction she goes in anyway, right?

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 There's something bittersweet in the words of this story. They feel like a lonely cocktail on a cold winter night.

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

Well, that was some story. Want to hear what it was about?

(Thread)

[The Bartender @jazzbartender1]

@jazzbartender1 The girl looks out at the melting snow, and jumps on the next train headed back home.

But where the girl goes next, or what happens to the old man, we never find out.