“Very true, bad boy turned good guy, who would believe it?” I replied as we slowly walked back to the car.
“Now then, I have somewhere to take you, and there is someone I want you to meet,” I said as we climbed into the car.
“Who is it? Are we going to your mother’s?” she asked.
“No, a little closer to home, and someone who helped me to realize I had been a dick!” I turned the car, and we slowly drove away from the scene of the accident, forever.
We headed back through the trees and re-joined the main highway back toward the outskirts of town. I could see the gas station in the distance as we approached. I pulled into the parking lot of the bar.
“We are here,” I said to Kendall as I climbed out of the car.
“We are where? I don’t recognize this place at all. There are only this bar and the gas station,” she replied as she looked slightly confused.
“This is the bar where I met the old man, on the day of the accident and last week,” I explained.
I hoped that Gates was going to be in the bar, I had guessed he was a creature of habit and frequented the bar on most days for some solitude as he propped up the bar with his glass of sour mash or a beer in his hand. Maybe having conversations with strangers to pass the time.
He told me I was a dick the first time I had met him, but I had become very different. He was a strange old character who had a big insight into how the world worked. He had a confidence about him. It was like he understood the person who he chatted to. I sensed he had a gift, and this he shared with people, it was like he opened the windows and could see into their lives and their soul.
We entered the bar, and I immediately glanced around, I couldn’t see the old man and my heart sank, I so wanted him to meet Kendall so he could see I had followed his advice.
We approached the bar and could see a glass on the bar next to Gates’s stool. Damn, we’ve just missed him.
The waitress approached us and asked us if we would like to order.
“Just two light beers please,” I said to the waitress. “Has Gates been in today?”
“Sure, he’s still here, he’s just out back having a cigarette,” she replied as she headed off to get our drinks.
“A drink for Gates as well please,” I said as she returned with our bottles.
We sat at the bar, and I was excited to see the look on his face, he was still a stranger in every sense of the word, but I felt like I had known him for quite a while. I saw the sunlight flood into the rear of the bar as the door opened and Gates walked back toward his stool.
“Look what we have here then if it ain’t Sonny and a guest,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Hi, Gates. I’ve brought someone I would like you to meet,” I said. “Gates, this is Kendall and Kendall this is Gates.”
“Pleased to meet you, Missy,” Gates said. “Just call me Harry.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry. Elijah has mentioned you a few times. It wasn’t anything but good, I might add,” she said as she shook his hand.
“Well Sonny, I’m glad you took my advice and did the right thing,” Harry said as he raised his glass. “A toast. To life.”
“I did the right thing, Harry. You made me realize I made a fool of myself and I had nearly missed the chance to be with someone so special. Thanks,” I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“She sure is pretty,” Harry said with a chuckle.
“So, Harry, Elijah told me, you thought he was a real dick the first time you met him,” Kendall asked with a cheeky grin.
“He sure was Missy, he sure was. He was so far up himself, you wouldn’t believe, and he was angry, angry at the world it appeared.”
“I understand, I had seen him like that before his accident,” Kendall replied.
“Hello, I’m here, don’t be so harsh on me,” I replied with a chuckle.
“Now, now Sweetie, we are only messing around,” Kendall said as she placed her hand on my arm.
“You are lucky,” Harry said.