A Tree Born Crooked (5 page)

“So, you here for the karaoke?”

“Excuse me?”

The bartender was pouring a shot of vodka into his Styrofoam cup of soda. He put the bottle back in the well and pressed the plastic lid onto his drink. He gestured around the bar that was beginning to fill up with women in tight shorts and strappy tank tops. Most of the crowd was either too old or too large to be showing so much skin. Still, from the way they flicked their burned and frosted hair back and clutched at their oversized knock-off bags, they thought they were something. James supposed that was all that mattered.
 

“Well, most folks only come out to The Diamond on Sunday for one of two reasons.”

James sipped his beer and leaned against the back of the bar stool so he could survey the small crowd better.

“The wing special?”

“God, no. And don’t order none, ‘less you want to spend the rest of the evening keeping company with the porcelain throne.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

The bartender nodded.
 

“No, folks either come here to sing on that damn squawk box to hear their own pathetic voices, or to try and impress some girl enough to get laid.”

James swiveled around on his bar stool and eyed the karaoke machine in the corner.
 

“I thought I was in a bar. Don’t folks come here just to drink?”

“Well, sure. You always got the regular drunks coming in to get a regular drunk on. But from the way you’re nursing those beers, I don’t reckon you plan on being blacked out ‘fore midnight.”

“No, not tonight anyway.”

Behind James, a girl was screeching at her own joke about some dumb peckerwood. She was laughing just loud enough so that the dumb peckerwood would turn around and take notice of her.
 

“And from the way you’re dressed, I’m guessing you’re not here to show off.”

James looked down at his gray plaid button-down shirt and rolled up sleeves.
 

“What’re you trying to say, exactly?”

The bartender raised his eyebrows at James and turned away to ask a woman who had just walked up to the bar what she wanted to drink. James heard the woman giggle and order a Tequila Sunrise. He looked up into the cloudy mirror behind the bar and saw her eyes trying to make contact with his. He turned slightly toward her out of politeness. She smiled at him, biting her lower lip in an attempt to be sexy, but succeeding only in getting pink lipstick on her yellowed teeth. Her low-cut tank top was tight, shiny, and obviously designed to display the goods. She grinned at James with her lipsticked teeth and winked. He turned back to face the bar.
 

The bartender lowered his voice as he passed by James to set a pale glass of beer on the bar.
 

“I think she likes you.”

“Despite the scenery, I’m actually here to meet my brother.”

A boy who couldn’t have been more than nineteen picked up the pint glass and left two dollars on the bar. The bartender slid the bills into his pocket and turned to James.

“Who’s your brother?”

“Ezra Hart.”

“No shit.”

The bartender rested his palms on the wet bar mat and squared himself to look at James.
 

“You’re Rabbit’s brother? So, you must be James Hart.”

“Last time I checked.”

James was starting to feel embarrassed, though he wasn’t exactly sure why. The bartender pulled a towel out of his back pocket and wiped his face with it. He reached down behind the bar and brought out two shot glasses. Soon they were both filled to the brim with whiskey and one was in front of James.
 

“Well, what’d you know? I thought you looked familiar when you walked in. But I ain’t seen you ‘round town in ten years or more. You don’t remember me, do you?”

“I feel sorry to say that I don’t.”

“That’s okay. You weren’t but just ‘bout to hit high school when I moved to Memphis with my first wife. Guess I don’t gotta tell you that one ain’t work out. I coached you and Rabbit at Little League.”

“Well, hey there, Mr. Redding.”

“That’s right. But call me Hollis. I reckon you’re old enough now.”

Hollis wiped his fingers on his shirt and reached over the bar to shake James’ hand.
 

“You taught me how to slide.”

“Thought your mama was gonna come down to the field one day after the way I had to bandage you up.”

James lowered his head.
 

“Well, Mama wasn’t always paying the best attention.”

“Still, it’s good to see you again. Sorry to hear ‘bout your daddy. I didn’t know Orville so well as some, but he was always a fine man when he came in. Real fine. Here’s to that.”

 
The bartender and James raised their glasses and drank. James felt the burn go down his throat and wondered why he hadn’t started drinking liquor sooner. It made the whole scene around him just a little more bearable.

“Rabbit was in here earlier, but left with that cousin of yours, Delmore.”

James set his glass down and licked a trickle of liquor off the side of his hand.
 

“Yeah, I’d heard Delmore got outta State.”

“If you ask me, that boy just doesn’t set right. Rabbit’s okay, always was. But Delmore’s got this look on his face all the time, like he’s trying to figure out how he can con you outta your own shoes or something. Just shifty. Doesn’t tip, neither.”

Hollis nodded to a man waiting down at the end of the bar and started scooping ice.
 

“You happen to know where they went? Or if Rabbit’s coming back?”

Hollis poured well vodka with one hand and sprayed soda out of the gun with the other. He stuck a cocktail straw into the glass.

“Don’t know where they went, but Rabbit’s always in and out of here on Sunday nights. Usually winds up trying to croon Garth Brooks to some blonde. Just give him a bit and he’ll be back. You want another Bud?”

In the back of the bar, someone had cranked up the karaoke machine and a squeal of feedback pierced the air. A girl’s nervous laughter echoed over the microphone.

“Skip the beer. Better stick with the hard stuff. Turkey this time, on ice.”

Hollis grunted and made James the drink. The man at the end of the bar started yelling. Hollis set James’ glass in front of him and picked up the vodka soda.

“I’m coming! Shut your pie hole, Wilbur.”

James pulled the tiny straw out of his glass and leaned over the bar to throw it in the trashcan. As he did, he glanced in the mirror again and saw the same girl still trying to make eyes at him. Only this time, she had someone with her. That someone smiled and James, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, knew that he was going to have to talk to her.

“I was thinking you was never gonna turn ‘round and say hi.”

“Hi, Addie.”

The other girl got up to go talk to a man half her age at a table across the room. Adelyn Branch scooted over and sat down on the bar stool next to James.
 

“That it?”

James tried to smile at her.

“Hi, it’s good to see you. You’re looking great.”

It was a lie. Adelyn was two years younger than James, but looked five years older. Her dull brown hair had been badly highlighted and hung in limp strands to her shoulders. It was the kind of hair that looked best pulled back in a ponytail. Or kept underneath a hat. James remembered her having brown eyes, but now her eyes were an unnatural green, tinted by cheap contacts purchased over the Internet. Her mouth and nose were small, and pretty, but her complexion had seen better days. She tried to mask the scars from a late bout of acne with thick concealer, but the makeup only brought more attention to the tiny scars and pockmarks across her chin and cheeks. She reached out a hand and laid it on James’ wrist. Through the layer of clear, glittery nail polish he could see a line of grime underneath each nail.
 

“Thanks. Wow, it’s been what, like, forever? Three years?”

“A pretty long time.”

She kept her hand on him. He wanted to move his arm away, but knew that she would only inch closer. He kept still, tracing the fingers of his other hand up and down the side of his glass.
 

“At least fifteen since we had a chance to catch up. Really have some fun together, right?”

“At least.”

Hollis walked past them, his eyes going back and forth between the two. He shook his head slightly. James couldn’t tell if Hollis found the situation amusing or just pathetic. Adelyn yelled at him.
 

“Hey, Hollis!”

She leaned over the bar and her bare shoulder brushed against the sleeve of James’ shirt. This close, James could clearly smell the combined stink of alcohol and menthol cigarettes.
 

“What’d you need, Addie?”

Hollis slapped a wet bar towel over his shoulder and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he spoke to her. James decided that he was amused. He had a smile cracking at the edge of his lips.
 

“I want another drink.”

She turned to James, this time resting her hand on his upper back.
 

“You want a drink?”

James leaned forward slightly. He pointed at his almost full glass.

“I’m good.”

Her mouth turned slightly. James could tell that she was at the stage of intoxication where her mood could twist from hostile to euphoric, and back again, without a moment’s warning.
 

“How ‘bout a shot? I want an Alabama Slammer. Remember we used to drink them shots all the time?”

James could not ever recall drinking anything that sounded like a place where someone got locked up and whistled the theme song from
Deliverance
when he dropped the soap.
 

He leaned away from her hand and rested his elbows on the bar.

“I’m good. It’s a little early, you know?”

Her face was pouty again.
 

“You used to be a lot more fun.”

“Like I said, it’s still early.”

He meant it as an offhand remark. The kind of thing he would say to a stranger who was giving him a hard time for not drinking fast enough. Harmless. James instantly regretted it, though, when he saw Adelyn’s face light up. She had taken it to mean something else. Hollis picked up a cardboard coaster and tapped it on the bar mat.
 

“You want that shot or not, Addie? I got customers waiting.”

She sat up straight, finally giving James a reprieve. He took the opportunity to shift farther away from her.

“No, I guess not. It’s no fun doing shots alone. Just another rum and Coke for now. And don’t forget the cherry this time.”

Hollis shrugged and started making the drink. James looked around, hoping to catch sight of Adelyn’s friend. She was still at a bar table and appeared to be engrossed in whatever line the man with the mustache and Dale Jr. hat was feeding her. Adelyn snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Hey, you in a hurry or something? You ain’t seen me in years and now you don’t got nothing to say?”

James sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to put up with her.
 

“I’m just looking for my brother. He was supposed to meet me here. You seen him?”

“Rabbit? Not tonight. But he’s usually in here Sunday. We did a duet together a few weeks back. That one with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I can’t remember the name of it. He can’t really sing, though. Tries too hard. Me now, I love to sing. Remember when I sang that Donna Fargo song at the talent show?
Funny Face
? And you thought it was ‘bout you?”

James remembered the song, but not thinking that it was about him. They had broken up three months before James graduated high school. He couldn’t recall if Adelyn was a good singer or not. All he remembered from the talent show was getting drunk with Rabbit and his best friend Kyle in the teachers’ bathroom outside the auditorium.
 

“Why, I got a funny looking face?”

Adelyn tittered and used a straw to try fishing the maraschino cherry out of her drink. She was having a hard time with it.

“Man, I sure do remember singing my heart out that night. I was singing for you. Not the funny face part. But the parts about being all wrapped up in you. Damn, you were my whole world, baby.”

James had known it was coming. Adelyn didn’t want to drink with him, and she didn’t want to make small talk. She wanted to go over their entire relationship that had ended almost sixteen years ago. It happened every single time he ran into her and couldn’t find an excuse to get away. She would review their whole high school experience, then maybe cry a little and, in the end, try to make a move on him. The last time he had seen her, at Janie’s wedding, she had gotten worked up to the point that she was crying snot tears and grabbing for his crotch at the same time. She had been so drunk that as she went in for a slobbery kiss, she had vomited on his dress shirt instead. Despite the stain, James thought it was a much better way to end the night.