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Eddie had a nice-sized stock room. Bottles of booze took up most of the
space, but he did have a couple of shelves of finger foods, mostly pretzels and nuts. Plus he had a small desk,
a coat rack for himself and some of us regulars, and in the corner were a few cleaning supplies. I'd seen all this
before. But now, for some odd reason, he also had two cases of coffee beans.
Oh sure, Eddie always had a pot of coffee brewing, but in all the time I'd been coming there, I couldn't recall
seeing anyone drink any of the stuff. So why would he need so many beans? And why would he grind it himself? Seemed
like an awfully big waste of time and money to me. Then again, my time and my money both belonged to a foul-tempered
lass I called my wife, so who was I to judge? In any case, I found a bag of nuts and hightailed it out of there.
Snooping, I assumed, would be a big no-no with Eddie.
I ate the nuts, drank a couple more martinis, and an hour later I rode my bike home - no easy feat mind you, but
a hell of a lot safer than getting behind the wheel of my car. Thankfully, Lucy was in better spirits, or at least
it seemed that way. Then again, my world was sorta fuzzy around the edges by that point. The tree outside my front
door seemed like it was in a good mood, too, if that tells you anything. Still, Lucy wasn't shouting anymore, so
I assumed my time away did the trick. A short while later, I passed out, as expected.
I woke up the next morning, and everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as my life ever was. I suppose it's
a relative term. I did try to stay out of Lucy's way, though. Why rock a boat that was already in rough waters,
I figured. And with a house as big as ours, it was sort of an easy thing to accomplish. Still, a mere couple of
weeks later, I managed to piss her off yet again. Lucy was like the tides that way. And when the waves came crashing
down on the shoreline, I was out the door and back at Eddie's - my hovel away from home.
"Nice to see ya, Max," he said, as he handed me my drink and hung my windbreaker up. The routine never
grew old. Eddie was good at his job, and I, for my part, was a nice, if fairly unobtrusive, customer. Most of us
regulars were like that. After all, as the saying goes, you don't shit where you eat; not the most appealing visual,
but you get my point.
"Hey, Eddie," I said, a short while later, "got any of those peanuts? I'm starved."
"Damn," he grunted. "I clean forgot to order any this week. Can you watch the place while I go to
the store and grab a few bags?"
It was kinda like having the rats watch the cheese, but I said sure. Anyway, all of us had filled in at one time
or another. Eddie was always forgetting something, or running quick errands. We trusted him with our livers, he
trusted us with the shop. No biggie. A minute later he was out the door, and we all just sat there, drinking our
drinks and commiserating about our good-for-nothing wives.
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