“Beer me!”
“Sure thing LD,” said the Midnight Rose.
“By da way, you ‘aven’t ‘appened to ‘ave sheen my teesh ‘ave you? I shink I put dem in my pocket, but now dey sheem to be mishing.”
“Sorry LD. Haven’t seen them. Here’s your beer.”
“Dangsh.”
As LD sauntered back to his table by the window, looking forward to having another of his little snoozes, the door burst open. It was T. Or was it?
The normally amiable gent wore an uncharacteristic scowl, and the way he stomped towards the bar, bumping and jostling the other patrons without so much as an “excuse me”, seemed to indicate otherwise.
“Smithwicks, barkeep, and keep ‘em coming.”
Well, at least
that part was right. LD motioned him over to join him. “What’s up, kid?”
T sat staring at his pint.
“Come on, kid. What’s the problem?”
“Bah! Just something that got my ire up. I’ll be okay after a few pints.”
“You’ll feel better if you get it off your chest. Believe me. I always do - though of course I have to do it quietly to myself since I have to keep up my good appearance and all.”
“Nah. Already got it off my chest and it didn’t really make me feel much better, to be honest. I wanted to make a point but I’m afraid that I didn’t do it very politically or pleasantly. It may come back to haunt me some day.”
“You? I doubt it.”
“It can happen…I’ve seen it before. Anyway, I have this horrible feeling that it’ll end up looking like a really tasteless way to try to get more people to read my latest book and that really isn’t what I was trying to do. After all, I know that the stuff I’m doing isn’t really many people’s cup of tea – it just isn’t the sort of thing that’s in vogue, really. To be honest, I’m doing it much more for myself than anything else, and it’s more like getting that extra scoop of icecream on your cone when a few kind souls happen to like it. I’m really not trying to get bushels full of fan mail like you do.”
LD had to laugh at that one. “Bushels? Well, I suppose I get a fair bit these days, but that’s only ‘cause I’m doing a little spot of comedy. No one goes back and reads the classics these days. I mean, how many people have actually
read my
Austria and the War of Spanish Succession anyway?”
“Probably more people than you think – though admittedly not as many as it deserves. I think that people are more into fast food these days…just don’t have the time and inclination to sit down to a full multi-course meal that’s been lovingly prepared.”
The two sat there for a few moments in silence, LD contemplating the myriad of AARs and lamenting the imminent demise of the Free Company series due to lack of contributors, and T slowly regaining his usual more calm and collected demeanour. Their faces lit up, however, as Bismarck appeared in the doorway, fresh from a book-signing session for his
Cyprus novel which was gaining more and more well-deserved popular acclaim. They waved him over to the table.
"By the way, LD, you can have your teeth back," said T. "I've finished with them for now. Sorry, bad timing."