After Work at the Local Pizza Hut

 

George and I met at the local Pizza Hut for

beer after work. It was Kansas and at the

time you could only get 3.2 beer in those

eating establishments. That was okay I

suppose, you just had to drink more to get

the same affect as 5%.

Anyway, George was telling me about his

wife, how demanding of him she was.

“George you’re always doing that, and you

never do enough of this,” she would often

complain.

I nodded in agreement occasionally between

swigs of beer. “You need to get a better job so

we can have a better life. You’ll never amount

to much the way you’re going,” she told him

frequently.

“Generally, she’s a real bitch. Nothing is ever

good enough for her,” George went on,

“especially as far as I’m concerned.”

I went up front and got us another pitcher

of beer, lit a cigarette and listened to more.

And there was more. The more beer George

drank, the more he had to say.

It was okay with me. I did manage to get a

few words in edgewise from time to time.

“You and I ought to start our own business,”

I told him. “You were a bartender at a pool

hall a time ago, weren’t you, George?” “Yep,

he replied, and a damned good one too. Then

I could listen to the customers complain about

their home life. And I didn’t feel so bad about

mine. I really ought to leave, Linda.

You got another one of those smokes?” he

asked pathetically. “I thought you gave up

smoking?” I asked. “Off and on, you know.

“Gotta have one with my beer. Got these

breath mints I carry around so when I go

home Linda won’t know I’ve been smoking.

I really should just walk away and disappear.”

So, there we were, George and I smoking

cigarettes and drinking our 3.2 beer after

work at the local Pizza Hut.

At times it sounded to me as if George and

I were married to the same woman. Only

difference being, mine spoke with a thick

German accent.

“Hey, George, let me have a couple of those

mints, will ya?”

-30-

Chris Hanch 9-19-2020