Chapter Eight: Existentialism and Alcohol.

 

Chapter Eight: Existentialism and Alcohol

3:51 p.m.

            As I made my way from Guntersville and past Arab to head back into Huntsville, my mind was a whirlwind of who’s and whys and what ifs. Hell, I didn’t even know why I said that stuff to Haley. I don’t know the truth. Likely, only Frank knew that. However, it just seemed to be the right thing to say at the time. Hopefully I was helping out his soul in trying not only to carry out his will and understand him, but also to help him with any unfinished business he had on this world. After all, wasn’t that what a will was all about? Carrying out your last affairs on this world? God knows a nineteen year old wouldn’t be prepared to carry out his last deeds.

            But yet, Frank Derahno seemed oddly prepared. Most people his age believed themselves to be mostly untouchable… Unbeatable… Immortal. However, it seemed that not only did Frank admit his mortality, he embraced it. He knew he could die at any time, but went about his normal life, it seemed, and didn’t care. Either that was a measure of great enlightenment, or some form of melancholy complacency. Either one was an odd thing for a nineteen year old college student to possess.

            But then my musings brought me to another point. If he had embraced his mortality and eventual death so easily, I couldn’t help but to ask myself why he didn’t already go to all of his friends and have them all meet the real him? Did he think he had more time? No…That couldn’t be it. If he thought he had more time, he wouldn’t have been this prepared. He wouldn’t have the note on him unless he knew his time was short.

            At that point, I had a small epiphany that surprised me so much that I almost missed stopping for the last red light before I hit the open expanse of highway leading to Huntsville. As I slowed to a stop behind a beat up pickup, I thought hard on what was a very disturbing possibility.

            What if Frank Derhano had planned to die that Friday night?

            If he did, then this was just a whole new ball game. But it did make some sense. That night, the only way he would have been able to get into a position to be hit by that truck fast enough for the driver not to notice him, was for him either to be not paying attention at all, or he was purposely sneaking into that deadly position.

            Throughout this day, my opinion of Frank had been raised dramatically, as it seemed most of his friends had mostly good things to say about him. It seemed that he tried to help his friends whenever possible. But suicide was something I just did not like even thinking about. I busted my a*s during the nights trying to save people who didn’t have much of a choice most times, and for someone to willingly throw it away… I wasn’t a religious person, but it was a personal blasphemy to my views. Yeah, the economy sucked horribly these days, and the world didn’t quite make sense ever since George W. Bush first took office. But there was still too much for anyone to live for, in my opinion. Even if it was simply the possibility for something better, there was always something bright to look forward to. If he had nothing to live for…What did he think he had to die for?

            I looked around at my surroundings at that point in my musings. It seemed that I had zoned out for quite a long time, because I was just sitting in my Prius in the parking lot of my apartment complex back in Huntsville, the engine still running. Shaking the cobwebs out of my head, I switched off the motor, gathered the note and the phonebook, and then got out of the car. I made my way up into my apartment, carrying the phonebook and the now almost equally heavy note.

            I set the items down on the coffee table and then made my way to my bed. I was tired, and I hadn’t even been out of the hospital for more than twenty four hours yet. I was sore all over, both from the car wreck and the car driving the day was full of. I was shouldering a burden that I had no right or claim to. I decided since I had another full day and some of the remaining addresses were here in town, I could afford to rest. I fell forward onto the bed without even disrobing myself. Did I mention I was tired?

1:07 p.m. Monday July 3

 

            I woke up to the sounds of post lunch hour traffic, feeling immensely better about life except for the incessant noise originating from the asphalt hell outside. However, I ignored it past the initial grumbling and grousing and just went about getting a shower in silence. Once that was accomplished, I went back into my room and got about getting dressed.

            I was feeling on the up and up, and decided that since I had this entire week off, I might as well make use of it and go to a bar before I went about the rest of this will business. That decided, I gathered up my wallet, keys, the note, and the phonebook and walked myself outside to my new car. Once inside of it, I cranked up the air conditioning to stave off the humid Alabama summer heat, and drove out of the apartment complex into the aforementioned asphalt hell.

            I decided not to go to one of my usual haunts and went a little farther down the road to a bar that I went to once probably about a year ago on a whim. I didn’t feel like being bothered by anyone who might recognize me and ask why I was drinking when I should be getting prepared for work. I didn’t feel like explaining the weird and coincidental vacation that had been thrust upon me. People just wouldn’t understand.

            Hell, I didn’t even understand it completely.

            I parked my car in the side parking lot of “The Four Leaves” and locked the car as I got out. I walked into the Irish themed pub and sat myself down into a small corner booth. It was slow going, as the lunch crowd was in the process of trickling out of there. I didn’t have to wait long until a waitress came by to take my order. She was a fairly tall redhead with a fair amount of freckles. She was dressed in a bright green outfit complete with apron and such, adding to the theme of an Irish pub. When she spoke was when I witnessed the real kicker.

            “’Ello, there. What can I get ye, sir?” she asked a fairly strong Irish accent that actually didn’t seem faked at all. After getting over my surprise, I glanced at the menu real quick and answered her.

            “Well, miss, since you folks have done such a great job with the feel of the place, I guess I will get a Rueben sandwich and a mug of Guinness.”

            She nodded and for lack of a better word, bounced off to turn in my order before going to refill some glasses at another table. It was occupied by a bunch of younger guys who look like they were just barely old enough to drink and felt like they were the cat’s meow, as they seemed to be making some rather indecent comments that seemed to be eliciting a faint blush on the waitress’s face, but it was mostly hidden by her freckles. She left the table and went about her job, stopping by a few more tables and then going back behind the bar. Soon enough she returned with a plate containing my corned beef on rye and a mug of Guinness. She set the food down on my table and smiled.

            “There ye go, sir! A bit of taste of my home for the gentleman.” She said, and then lowered her voice a bit and added, “Some of these could take a lesson from ye, in my opinion.”

            I nodded, and then realized what she had first said.

            “So, you are really from Ireland? Does your family own this place then?”

            She shook her head, her red head bound in a ponytail bouncing back and forth a bit, before answering.

            “No sir. I immigrated over here to start fresh, I guess. The owner here thought it would ‘add flavor’ to his pub to hire a real Irish girl, so here I be. Funny, eh?”

            I shrugged, and took a pull from my mug. I flashed a glance over at the table of rowdy young men and then looked back to her.

            “Do you get jerks like those very often in here, miss…?”

            “Samantha. Sam for short. And some like to call me Shamrock, cause of me homeland and where I work. It’s not the greatest name, but better than what some people say about me…” She said as she shot a dark glance over her shoulder at the table, and then turned back to me. “But aye, we get those guys in here a couple of times a week, and a few other crowds like them. Stupid college prats… I can’t exactly quit my job because of them though. I do have bills to pay. Besides, the owner here helped me out a lot. Working for him is very important for me.”

            I nodded, and sighed.

            “I know what you mean by important things not being always pleasant. I’m in the process of carrying out a will of this guy named Frank Derahno and…”

            I was cut off by the sounds of three chairs scraping their legs against the floor as the occupants of the rowdy table stood up. They started stalking over to me, for some reason seeming to be ready to start foaming at the mouths.

            “Hey, did you say something about that b*****d Derahno, old man?”

            I blinked and simply nodded.

            “Yeah, he’s dead, and I guess I’m his proxy for his will. Why?”

            The guy who apparently they agreed to be their lead snarled and grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling me to my feet.

            “That b*****d cheated me out of a thousand bucks on a bet. That money was for school, and I had to ask my dad for more money after that. I know that b*****d cheated, and I guess since he’s dead, his proxy will have to pay for him, I guess…” His snarl turned into a wicked smile as he talked. He drew back his fist for what I guessed would be a haymaker. However, I wouldn’t have any of that.

            The thing about a haymaker is that people outside of the boxing world usually throw a punch with all their strength with very little direction or skill, expecting to make up for it in power. Oh, how foolish these people were.

            I fell back into my combat training I received in the service and waited for just the right moment. I jerked my head to the side to avoid the wild punch. This left the poor guy off balance and his grip on me weakened. I took a step back with my right foot, putting enough distance between us to completely shake him off, and then came forward again with a right elbow into his solar plexus. His breath rushed out of his lungs with a whooshing sound as I knocked it out of him. However, I had one more present for this jerk. With my left elbow, I came around and knocked him good in his temple, dropping him.

            However quickly I dispatched their friend, the other goons still had time to react. I felt a punch hit the back of my head, and fought to keep conscious as black spots danced in front of my eyes. I wasn’t idle, however. I spun around to my right, throwing out my right hand in the shape of a blade towards where I hoped this guy’s face was. I struck true as I heard his nose break. My vision returned some more as I completed my turn and then I shoved the guy away from me, where he fell onto the floor and was content to lay there and clutching his bleeding nostrils. I turned back to the left and saw that the third and last of them bringing a chair over his head to bear in on my own head. I dodged to the left as he smashed it against the floor, and then grabbed his shoulders to face me again.

            What good soccer players know is that there is a spot on your forehead that is extremely durable and tough. It is what they use to head the ball. I demonstrated my own favorite use of it and head butted the jerk in one of his own not so hard places on his head. He blinked once…Twice…and then slumped to the ground.

            I looked around at the minor destruction of the immediate area and then to the shocked Samantha and an elderly man I assumed to be the owner. I couldn’t help myself, and decided to break the tension.

            “I’m sorry about this, y’all. Check, please?”

Reviews

[Emily In Disguise]

Haha. Very funny. An Irish accent would sound waaaay weird on me.... lol. Another good chapter. I'm excited for the next one, as always. :)