Part 27 (1/2)
The hotel also had an ample bar and both decided that a couple of beers before calling it a night would be a good idea. Take the edge off. The place was dark, full of polished wood and tables, and practically deserted apart from them and the bartender. The bartender was from Quebec, and Danny surprised Crew by speaking French to him. He was a young man, clean shaven, and his eyes brightened for a brief moment before answering, ”Oui, oui,” to Danny's orders. They made themselves comfortable at a table well away from the bar and settled in for the first round. Crew heard of the brew they made up here, but he had never really tried any of it. After two bottles of Moosehead, he was thinking of importing it.
”Good beer.”
”Not bad,” Danny shrugged. Crew thought the man was a mountain about to fall over.
”Where'd you learn to speak French?” Crew asked.
”School,” Danny answered, eyes downcast.
”Really? Learned Spanish in mine. Had the option to do j.a.panese, too.”
”Spanish is a cool sounding language.”
”So is French.”
”Aw,” Danny drew out, ”it's okay. Not too much opportunity to speak it though. Sometimes we'd shoot over to New Brunswick there and speak a few words to the locals, but that's it. Nothing big.”
They talked for another hour during which Crew drank another two beers and the room took on a fishbowl quality. He also noticed his words were becoming slurred in some places. No wonder Buffalo and Detroit teens were making runs across the border to get at this s.h.i.+t. To wait until you were twenty one was a crime.
”Good beer,” he commented.
Danny nodded. ”You keep saying that. How you doing over there?”
”Pretty good,” Crew said, leaning back in his chair and making it creak. He drum- patted his belly. ”How about you?”
”There's a snap on, alright,” Danny admitted. ”Must be all of the driving getting to me. Haven't done that before. Sometimes, after the bar closed early, Gary-I mean Mr. Tigh-Boom and I would slam back a few Mooseheads. Many a good soldier would perish on those nights.”
Crew listened to the music playing in the background. ”They're good, aren't they,” he stated, referring to the two men.
Danny met his eyes. ”They are... my best friends.”
Crew held up his bottle, and Danny met it with his own. The bottle necks clicked together. ”
”To finding the prey,” Crew toasted grimly.
Danny nodded. They drank, and for a moment, Crew believed the big man was weeping. Crew looked away, suddenly interested in the nearby tables, and downed his beer. He then signalled the barkeep for two more.
”Two more for the toad--I mean road?” Crew asked.
”Yeah,” Danny said rubbing at the side of his nose. ”You watch 'Star Wars?'”
Crew's brow arched with interest. ”'Star Wars?' Yeah, I've seen it. The old ones, right?”
”Yeah, episode four.”
”Then yeah, I've seen it.”
”What cha think of the music?”
”The music?”
”Yeah.”
The bar guy came over with their beers and placed them on the table. Crew paid the man before answering. ”Good, I guess.”
”Boom would say that's music to have s.e.x to. That and 'Superman.'”
A smile spread across Crew's face. ”That so? Yeah, I guess it would be.”
”Next time you hear it, you'll be thinking of it. Guaranteed. I've tried it, actually, and the man has a point.”
”Superman, too?”
”Nah, not superman,” Danny scoffed. ”That'd be too much. I can see my lady's eyes rolling over now if I tried some s.h.i.+t like that. 'Star Wars' is acceptable.”
Crew swallowed a mouthful of beer and chuckled. ”What about the music from the cantina part, then? That good for s.e.x, too?”
”Foreplay,” Danny answered, and they both smiled. ”Got you thinkin' now, eh?”
”Yeah, you do,” Crew chuckled. ”I liked all them movies though. Except episode six. 'Return of the Jedi.'”
”What was wrong with that?”
Crew leaned forward. ”Okay. You got this planet right, and the new Death Star's force field generator down there, and the Emperor's got a legion of his finest stormtroopers down there guarding it. a.s.s kickers to the last, and they get f.u.c.king pummelled by a bunch of spear-chucking teddy bears. How the h.e.l.l does that happen?”
”Merchandizing,” Danny sympathized. ”Boom and I argued over the same point.”
”What point?”
”How the stormtroopers could get stomped by a bunch of teddy bears.”
”So he agreed?”
”Nope. The other way. He figures-and this is his opinion only-that we only saw glimpses of a ma.s.s attack. Thousands of the little Ewok b.a.s.t.a.r.ds swarming over the stormtroopers. The white boys just didn't have a chance.”
Crew considered the idea. ”He's got a point there. But you don't see it well enough in the movie.”
Danny pointed a finger at the man. ”My counter exactly. You don't see it well enough in the movie. You could do it now with all of the CGI stuff going on. I mean, look at 'Lord of the Rings'. Great stuff.”
”Not exactly the kind of debates I expect from a couple of bouncers at a strip club,” Crew stated thoughtfully, squinting at the other man.
”s.h.i.+t, we talk about everything there. Politics to sports. World Events. h.e.l.l, I even have my own web site up.”
”Really?”
”Selling sports' paraphernalia. Ca.s.sius' Clay's first set of boxing gloves. Stuff like that.”
”What?” Crew did not bother covering up the amazement in his voice.
”h.e.l.l, yes,” Danny nodded. ”Can't work at the Beacon forever. I got boxes of old baseball cards and hockey cards. Plan to retire on the money I make off the s.h.i.+t. Plan to just travel around to conventions, selling my merchandise, and picking up whatever I can for the best price I can get. Even selling some of it on E-bay.”