So Weird Collection VI Chapter 1: Barlen's Bar, a so weird fanfic

Song: Higher Cards
Artist: Collin Raye

I was sitting up in the cap area of the bus like always, reading the newspaper. More importantly the sports section. We were on a rest and snack break. I had gotten out for a minute to walk around, but I wasn't hungry so I didn't join the others when they went down the street to the ice-cream stand we had passed. Carey promised he'd get me a double chocolate chunk cone if they had any, my favorite. Knowing my son he'd eat it before he was even half way back. Plus like I said I'm not that hungry.

I click on the radio and try to find a decent station; this town only seems to have county stations. There's nothing wrong with that kind of music, I grew up on it. It was all my parent's ever listened to so in turn while living with them it was all I ever listened to. The only way I could hear Elvis, The Beatles or any other great bands of my generation was when I slept at a friend's house. That kind of music just was not allowed in our home. It was the work of the devil according to my parents. So of course when I moved out the first thing I did was buy all the records I had been denied. I must admit it's been awhile since I've really listened to country music, so I give up trying to find a rock and roll song in the frequency.

Must of the songs I don't recognize, I'm surprised how much this genre of music has changed, but all music categories evolve over time. I look at my watch, 1:31 they have been gone for 20 minutes. Maybe I should of given them a ride to the stand, it would have been the decent thing to do. But they did say no when I asked, still I should have persisted. We have to get heading back on the road soon. Molly's show starts at 7:00 and I'm really not sure where the venue is actually located. I hate it when club managers give bad directions; it's not that hard of a thing to do. At least I don't think it is.

I was about to put the keys into the ignition when the music on the radio caught my attention. I decided to listen to the song, music usually when the music is good the lyrics are just as great.

Well the hammer fell down on a forty-four primer
Now there's one less problem in South Carolina tonight
Wrong or right

She just looked at me as she finished her tale
And her blank expression went another shade pale of grey
There was nothin' to say
In the shadows of her face, I saw the scars
That you get when you live where love is hard
And she said

Don't you sit and judge meFrom some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug off
Until you've walked a mile in my bare feet
'Cause there are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play

Well I put the cuffs on her
And I put her in the car
And I walked in and he was on the floor
Stone dead
Shot in the head

There were whiskey bottles and dope by his chair
And a starving baby with nothin' to wear
But tears
You know, the picture was clear

He had finally pushed her farther than the line
And the badge i wore had lost all of it's shine

Well I stood there thinkin' how justice was blind
But I didn't see any and I could see just fine
And I made up my mind

So I took the cuffs off her
And I took her back inI wiped off the gun
And wrapped it in his right hand
Where it should've been

And the morning paper told in black and white
Just another senseless case of suicide
Oh, just a suicide

Oh but don't you sit and judge me
From some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug off
Until you've walked a mile on my beat
'Cause there are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play

Yeah the hammer fell down on a forty-four primer
Now there's one less problem in South Carolina tonight

Damn it! I wish I had never turned on the radio. Wish I had continued my quest to find a rock station, but it was too late. That one song pushed up a thousand emotions I thought were buried so deep that they no longer existed. That they had become nothing but a silly once a blue moon of a bad dream. People say even the smallest things can stir up memories, usually the ones you want to forget the most. That song had happened to me, I had played the role of the cop. It was 23 years ago while I was living in West Virginia and working at Barlen's Bar as a bartender.

~~~~

I had been working there for almost a year, the whole staff felt like my family. I had a lot of regular customers who shared all their troubles with me. I have enough stories and tales in my head to write at least three novels. But bartenders have an ethnicity code like shrinks, everything is kept top secret. My boss was a jerk, but almost all bosses seem to be on power ego trip, and they're easy to ignore. The pay was good, good friends, and a steady girlfriend. However that all changed when Frank and Helen Dunkle decided to have a drink at my counter.

They had come in before, happy on arrival, screaming and arguing when leaving. Frank was a first class jerk to everyone, especially to the one woman who he's suppose to love more than life it self. I know he hit her, a lot. But there wasn't anything I could do about it because it never happened at the bar. The fading bruises on her body and the way he look at him with fear told me all I needed to know. Helen was beautiful, could have any guy in the world, but for some reason she picked Frank. Maybe he picked her I never bothered to ask. They had a little girl, perhaps that was a reason that they had gotten married in the first place because of her.

It was near the end of my shift when they came in the night. In an hour I would be on way home to my apartment where my girlfriend from the last 4 months waited. You know at some moments through out your life you get a feeling that something really bad is going to happen? Well that feeling hit me when I saw Frank and Helen, but I'll I could do was ignore it; I had customers to take care of. They said in one of the back tables on the opposite side of the jukebox and billiard tables. The bar was pretty empty, I only remember besides myself and the Dunkle's to be 7 other people. Must of them drunk and waiting for me to call them a cab to get home. At Barlen's Bar we tried our hardest to stop people from driving under the influence, we thought it to be our duty. Even if that meant stealing their car keys, now that can piss a person off. But I don't regret ever doing it.

Just like all the other times the Dunkle's came in happy, smiling, laughing, you'd almost think they were a happy couple. Fifteen minutes past and they were still getting along great; maybe I was just acting paranoid and at that point decided to stop spying on them. A few moments after I turned my back I heard the very recognizable sound of an open hand hitting skin, hard. I spun around to see Helen holding the side of her face and tears rising to the surface and Frank looked mad that she was acting that way. I left my post and walked over to their table not sure what I was going to do.

"Hey! We don't take that kind of behavior here. So I must ask you to leave." I had tried to sound tough and firm like saying no wouldn't even be a consideration.

"What are you talking about?" Frank innocently asked me.

"You know perfectly well."

"Um no I don't."

"Oh it's nothing Ned, don't worry about it." I wasn't sure how Helen knew my name, but it was a fairly small town so I wasn't really surprised by it.

"Yeah Ned go back to mixing drinks. And while you're at it I would like a draft Coors, please." I wanted to slap Frank, I couldn't though. All I could do was leave them be, I had no prove, plus Helen didn't want any help.

Soon the couple was back to talking in civil tongues and I was listening to Matt complain about his wife yet again. I would be able to leave in 20 minutes, God was I ready to. Some days I love my job and the people met. Others I don't because see first hand how cruel the world can be, and there isn't jack shit you can do about it. I was bending down to get a new bottle of scotch when it happened.

~~~~

BANG! I jumped straight up, slamming my head on the bottom of the counter, something I had done a hundred times before. When all the little birdies left my line of vision and I was able to see again, the picture of what happened was very clear, too clear. Helen was standing shaking like a leaf on a cool autumn day holing a pistol in her hand. Frank was in his seat now slumped over onto the table, blood pouring out of his head. It had been a kill shot, no doubt about that. Matt and all my other customers were so drunk they had no clue of what happened. So basically I was alone to take care of it.

"I I I I'm sorry, but I couldn't…." Helen speaks out loud not to anyone in particular.

"It's ok Helen, it's ok." I say softly as walking over to her.

"I couldn't take it anymore. The yelling, the hitting." She seems angry like if she could do it again she would. I wasn't sure what I should do. Here was this gorgeous women with so much potential in the world, who surely soon be standing behind steel bars. And there was a man that everyone hated one final got what was a long time coming, it didn't seem fair. Even if she pleaded self-defense she'd must likely spend at least a year or two in jail. Helen didn't deserve that, hell in my book she should be hailed as a hero. That's the point I knew what I had to do, the only decent thing I possible could do.

I grabbed a napkin from the table next to us and carefully take the gun from Helen's hand, making sure my skin didn't directly touch it. I clean the gun with the napkin trying to get all the unseen prints that Helen left on it off. Once I feel as if all the evidence is now on the napkin and gently put it into Frank's hand, not sure if a person could shoot themselves in that angle, but I didn't care. There now it was suicide and not murder that worked for me. Helen looks at me, not sure what to say, but she knows I had just saved her life.

"Helen get out of here. Go get Emma and pack up all your things and leave town. Don't look back. Here's some money." I pull out a hundred dollar bill from my wallet and hand it to her. She mouths the words thanks and quickly exits knowing it was now or never. Because there was no saying when the cops would get there.

I never saw Helen again; I'm partially sad but mainly happy of that fact. It was ruled as a suicide, an open and shut case they said. I had to get out of this town, too many memories of what I had done kept haunting me, and I couldn't tell anyone about it. I asked my girlfriend to leave with me; this was the town she grew up in, so of course she refused. So we broke up and I quit my job without giving a two-week notice. I hit the road not sure of what direction to go anywhere would suit me fine. I some how ended up in Hope Springs Colorado where my life suddenly gained meaning and full moment. After all that's where I meet and married my wife and became a family man. No one knows of that story, no one ever will. Everybody as turning points in their lives and that was mine.

I hear the door being knocked on that whole gang waiting for me to open the doors. Carey doesn't have a cone in his hand, surprise surprise.

"I bought you one dad I swear but it melted."

"Yeah in your mouth." Annie jumped in, now that doesn't surprise me. They all get in and I start up the bus and were on our way to only God knows where. I was happy I heard that song now, it made me face my past straight on. I suppose the next step would be to tell someone, yeah I would tell Irene to tonight.