Julie's Exit

Drowning her sorrows seemed like a good idea at the time.

“Do ya want something else, miss?”

“No thanks, I’ll stick with the gin and tonic. One more please.” Julie had been sitting at the bar for almost two hours trying to figure out what to do. She was getting a little drunk but didn’t want to go home. Mason might be there and she had no interest in seeing him right now.

He had come home once again last night from the casino with nothing more than a grizzly bear mood. He had cashed his paycheck and gone directly to the blackjack table. Julie had no idea where the money to gamble was coming from, but he had to keep playing ‘cuz his luck was gonna change’ and if he was winning, he couldn’t stop ‘cuz he was on a roll.’ He had exhausted all of their savings and taken a secondmortgage on the house that Julie had just learned about.

 Angry couldn’t even describe it, she said.

Her gin and tonic arrived and she gulped the first half of it.

“Is this seat taken?”

The man was tall, fairly good looking, gray at the temples and wearing what looked like a designer suit and he seemed very nice. Julie waved her hand, “It’s all yours.”

He sat down close to her and ordered a Bud light. When his beer arrived, he reached over to her and raised his glass.

“Cheers.”

“Oh ya, ok,” Julie said. “Cheers. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You from around here?” Julie flirted a little and the man smiled at her.

Julie felt a little pressure on her ribs and when she looked down, she saw there was a gun pointed at her and the now not-so-nice man was saying “Don’t scream or panic.

Just keep sipping your drink.”

Julie continued to sip her drink in compliance. “Your husband owes my boss a lot of money. Call him and get him here now.”

She dialed Mason’s number and he answered on the second ring. “What do you want?”

“Hi Mason, I’m at the Curtain Bar. Can you come down?”

“No, I’m winning at the moment. I can’t walk away from the table.”

Julie heaved a heavy sigh. “Mason, there is a gentleman here who really needs to talk to you and right now, he is holding a gun on me,” she whispered. “GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW.”

 Julie hung up and politely smiled at the man. “He’s on his way. Is this what you do for a living,” Julie continued to flirt. “Threaten women who are married to idiots?”

“Ya, pretty much,” the man smiled back at her and pulled the gun back a little.

Fifteen minutes passed and the man was now getting agitated. “He better be here in 5 minutes or you’re in serious trouble, young lady. You might have to go with me.”

“Oh now, would that be so bad?” Julie smiled.

At that moment, Mason walked through the door and strode over to the bar.

He handed a wad of money to the man, smiled and sat down next to him.

“You know this isn’t enough, Mason, my little buddy. Jack wants all of it.”

Mason looked at him and smiled. “Consider this a down payment. As soon as I get back to the blackjack table, I will have the rest.” Mason started to get up and the man slammed him back onto the bar stool.

“Jack wants it all now.”

Mason started to look a little panicked. “I don’t have it right now. I’m gonna have another drink, wait til last call maybe  and then go back to the tables.”

“Well, then I guess your little lady and I are gonna take a ride.” Julie looked to Mason and he just shrugged. She groaned, got up off her barstool, smiled at the man and said “let’s go”.

The man escorted Julie out the door. Mason did decide to stay and have another drink . . . maybe stay til last call. Roughly forty-five minutes later, Julie came back through the door with the man’s gun in her hand.

“Last call, Mason,” and she pulled the trigger. Then she walked out the door with the man and disappeared into the night.