Ten PM at the Oasis

Albert Black had a bar.  One of the few bars in Dixon Country.  There was a lot food you could get, including buffalo wings and fried gator tail.  There was a small dance floor, with mostly music from a juke box, country rock and honky-tonk dominated, and occasionally there would be live music, but not tonight, this chilly early December Thursday night.  There was alcohol served, including Albert's famous Swamptown Getdown, whose ingredients were a carefully guarded secret.  There were sometimes minor fights and disagreements, but Albert was good at keeping control, and there were plenty of police drop bys.

Albert Black was a stout man, both in his ale choices and his physical appearance.  Six foot and 250 pounds, he was solid and imposing rather than fat.  He was stern but fair, gruff but not mean, more Ernest 'Marty' Borgnine than Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.  He was a Gulf War veteran, and had been married a few times.  True love had somehow eluded him.

Tonight his bar had a modest crowd.  Seated at a big table near the front was the Ghost Squad.  Not the biggest drinkers in the world, but they often ordered a good bit of food, and they were never too rowdy or threatening to others.  Sometimes they put money into the jukebox, but only Cokie Goodkind and a girl danced together.  He wasn't quite sure of her name, but he thought she was a Steel girl, not the real pretty one that was still in high school, but the other one, whose name had completely slipped his mind.  They had an underage boy there with them tonight, but Albert let it pass as the boy's mother was also there, seated at the bar counter, nursing a Swamptown Getdown.  He kept close watch on the boy, who seemed to have no interest in alcohol,

Cokie was there with, with a few of the Ghost Squad members, including his new girlfriend, the Steel girl that Albert couldn't remember the name of, Tabitha Steel  She had grown up in the shadow of her incredibly beautiful younger sister, Racine, but Tabitha was quite pretty in her own right.  She just lacked the self confidence of her sister.

 Also at their table was Franny Goodkind, Cokie's sister and waitress at the Honey Dew.  She wasn't a true Ghost Squad member, but both Cokie and Tabby wanted her to get out and try to get out of the funk she was in.  Franny, as is the wont of many of us, was enamored of someone who was enamored with someone else.  David Roper was there, just a freshman in high school, having just joined the Ghost Squad a short while ago, and had a quickly proven himself to be a valuable, contributing member.  It was David's mother that was in the bar.  She had the good sense to sit at the counter away from them, within eye view but not ear shot. Lester Bateman, the Court House janitor was there, making eyes at Franny.  Franny ignored him, as Lester was as about as far from her type as you could get.

Lester had an iPad, and they were looking at footage they had taken of a Court House Ghost, a video taken a couple of weeks ago in one of their most successful excursions.  It was pretty good footage of a ghostly apparition of a woman floating out of the main courtroom. They were all disappointed that the video had not gotten many hits on YouTube, with most commentators expressing that it was clearly a hoax.  It had gotten several thousand views, but that paled to the hundreds of thousands who had seen the video of Dotty Mathers blessing out Congressman Winston at a recent town hall.

As they were despairing, another member of their group came in.  Billy Heart, a co-founder of the ghost Squad, along with Cokie, came in from the streets and over to the table.  An eccentric man in his late forties, he looked like he had been at Woodstock the last forty five years.  He was inexplicably wearing shorts, seemingly oblivious to the forty degree weather.  He wore a disgruntled frown, quite different from his normal cheerful countenance. "Have any of you seen Kelly?" he asked.  "We were supposed to go on a bike run to Jesup.  He hasn't shown up.  I went out to his place, but I couldn't find any sign of him."

"Kelly?" asked David Roper.

"Kayak Kelly," answered Cokie.  "He's a retired teacher, a very good one, too.  He taught biology and retired to a cabin near the swamp." Cokie turned to Billy.  "No, we haven't seen him.  Doesn't he usually only come here if there's live music?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right.  He must have forgotten and gone off to do something else.  Not like him to stand me up, but you know, he is getting old."  Billy chuckled, completely oblivious to his own age.  Billy was of the firm belief if you acted and conducted yourself like you were twenty-three, well then, by god you were twenty-three, whether ort not you had gray in your beard. "I am going to go up to the bar and get me a Swamptown Getdown."  Billy was the biggest consumer of spirits within the spirit club.

Billy came up to the barstool next to David Roper's mother.  "Well, hey there!  Have we met before?  I'm Billy Heart, and if you want it you can have it!"  Billy laughed.  It was his oldest joke, and what passed for him as a smooth pick up line.

"Hello," Janet Roper said, a little hesitant.  "I think I've seen you before.  I'm David's mother.  He's a new part of your group."

"Well, that is sweet!  Yeah, David's been a great help.  He's really taking to our group and what we do.  And, of course, we're very responsible in taking care of him."  Janet nodded.  She was just grateful he had friends, and they did seem like nicer people than those in the trailer park, even though the group was a bit eccentric.  "Can I buy you a drink, Janet?"

Janet shrank back a bit.  "Uhhh, no thanks, I already have one."

"Looks a little watered-down."  She had held it for awhile, and the ice had melted for the most part.  "Let me get you a fresh one."

"No, really, I'm all right.  Look, you seem like a nice enough man, but I'm not really ready for that right now."  No, she certainly was not.  Having left an abusive husband, living in a new town without a job, getting involved that way was nowhere on her agenda.

"Aww, I understand.  But really, it's just a drink!"

Albert came by and interrupted Billy.  "Back off, Billy.  Give the woman some space."  Albert and Billy had been friends for years, and knew Billy was harmless, but thought he would give Billy the warning anyways.  Billy could take awhile before he understood a woman wasn't interested, and he just wanted to help cut the process short before the lady felt too uncomfortable.

Billy wasn't a complete ass, took the hint, and backed off.  They proceeded to have a more polite conversation, and both found out they were pretty nice people.

Albert left them and checked in with the booths in the back.  In the very back, sitting on opposite sides of the table were Gariton Hollander and Freddy Crowley.  What an odd combo.  Maybe the rumors were true.

"Can I get you boys anything?" Albert asked. 

"No!" Freddy exclaimed irritably.  "Leave us alone!"

Gariton tried to smooth it over.  "It's alright, Albert.  I appreciate that.  We'll holler if we need anything."

When they were alone, Freddy started in again.  "I try, Mr.  Hollander, really I do. I laugh at all their jokes; I act lustful at all the girls they talk about.  I even pat waitresses on the behind.  But something's not quite right, and I am tired of lying about it."

Gariton was trying to struggle what the boy was talking about, but he thought he was finally grasping it.  "You mean, you think you might be gay?"

Freddy started to come over the table as if he was going to cover Gariton's mouth.  "Hush!  Not so loud!"  He fell back into his seat, and looked mortified, and then quietly whispered, "I...I...don't know.  I think maybe."  And then in a voice that Gariton more lip read than heard over the honky-tonk wailing form the jukebox, Freddy said, "Yes."

"Okay, I understand. That's fine.  There's nothing wrong with that.  But why did you decide to talk to me about it?"  Freddy had called him at work and said that he wanted to meet with him.  He thought it might have something to do with the mill or Freddy's father, Reggie.  When Freddy suggested meeting at The Oasis, Gariton was actually open to it, what with his wife Christie being out of town.

"Well, you know....what with you being in the community theatre and all.  And you don't seem to care much for sports and hunting, and would rather read and decorate and stuff."

"Well, first, Freddy, I don't "decorate and stuff".   Secondly, you may have noticed that I am married to a very beautiful woman."  Gariton was offended, but the boy needed help and he was trying to keep it under control.

"Oh, I figured she was like, what you call it, a "beard."

"No, she is not my "beard!"  We have a very good and loving relationship," retorted Gariton.

"Well, maybe you oughta think twice about letting her go off on trips with Rondy Strickland.  You must know what a horn dog he is."

"I trust Christie completely!" firmly replied Gariton.  But a seed of doubt was planted.  She did seem awfully eager to get away on this "business trip" with Rondy to Gainesville.  At least he knew enough about Compton Park business to know it was a real business trip, but was it necessary for it to be just the two of them?  Christie was awful flirty, but he had just accepted that as part of her character. "If you are going this direction, Freddy, and that's who you are, that's fine, but you are really going to have to work on your Gaydar!  Are you sure that you might be this way?  Do you have any gay friends, or anybody special?"

Freddy folded his big arms on the table and put his head down. "Maybe," he mumbled. "I...I...really don't want to say."

Gariton felt bad that he had gotten upset.  This was just a confused young man, living in a very rough, redneck world, and he felt like he needed to reach out for a way to help Freddy.  He first though of a couple gay friends he did know from the theatre, but then thought of somebody better. "You should talk to somebody who could help you understand this better.  Reverend Katie from my church, she has the experience and kindness to help you come to terms with this."

Freddy looked up, startled. "Oh. No!  Not the church!  I don't want to be told I'm going to hell!  I already figured that out!"

"She's not that kind of minister.  She's Episcopalian.  She doesn't believe gays are going to hell, or even that homosexuality is a sin.  She really can help you come to better understanding and acceptance of who you are," Gariton said.

"Oh.  I can't imagine that.  Is she a lesbo?" Freddy asked.

Now it was Gariton who wanted to put his head on the table.  "My, you really do need to do a lot of work on this.  No, I don't think she's gay.  Honestly, though, I don't really know, and I don't really care."

After more discussion, Freddy did agree to see Reverend Katie.  It probably helped that the Episcopal Church was out of town.

By 11:00, many of the patrons had left.  Billy asked each one if they had heard from Kayak Kelly, but no one had.  The Ghost Squad left at 11:30.  As Gariton was leaving he saw Janet roper, and remembered she had interviewed at the CPA firm.  He told her to stop by again, that there might be an opening (he didn't tell her about Houston Graves Jr.'s impending exit).  She was very excited. 

At midnight the Oasis was deserted, except for Albert.

Weeknights in Crowley, the sidewalks roll up early.