#175

"so what makes you think your life is so bad?" he didn't really know why he was asking. as a bartender, he usually grew weary of hearing every sad story, every backwards life decision followed by a snowball of regret, financial ruin, lost love, and just when things start to look up... then the obligatory dicey choices to start the cycle over again. but there was something about this guy. a kind of desperate faux joe cool that wasn't like the others.
across the counter, he pressed his lips together and took a slow sip of blue moon. was this four or five? doesn't matter much after the whiskey. he looked over the room. to his left, down two stools, a short girl with tanned skin sat nursing a rum and coke. she was young to be in here, especially alone. the only other person in the bar, picking up his coat and leaving through the front door.
he turned back to the bartender; proceeded to talk of how his father was never at home when he was a kid. his unhappy middle-aged housewife mother who thought an elite education was better than spending time with her son. "my high school graduation was spent with friends i knew were there only while the weather was fair. and what did i do? i turned my adult life into the same thing my childhood was. i used money to get whatever i wanted. my wife doesn't love me. not that married her for that anyway."
"it's a tough break man."
movement from the stool to his left. the girl turned a pretty-but-bored face to him. slapping a few bucks on the bar, "keep the change, Jerry" and as she began to walk out, filled the almost-empty bar with her voice. "sounds like first world problems if i ever heard them."