Wine and Regrets
"Red, red, wine."
The gravel voice of the singer bounced around the empty bar passed Ruben, the bartender, and stinging the ears of Tony, the only person at the bar.
Tony tapped the shot glass in rhythm with the music. Ruben dried a tumbler. He watched his customer waver in his chair. Tony stared into the mirror behind Ruben.
"Now she's gone and I can't forget her."
Ruben set down the tumbler and whipped the towel over his shoulder.
"She's been gone a long time now."
"It seems only yesterday," said Tony.
"You've been telling me that for 20 years."
"Nah."
"And I keep saying, find another car."
Tony pulled his wallet from his pants and dug out the yellowed photo of the 1967 Bullitt Mustang McQueen drove in the movie. He fingered a tear in the paper.
"I should have bought this car."
From the speaker above the bar, the gravel voice sang on: "It's tearing me apart, my blue, blue heart."
Copyright © 2018 Michael Shawn Sommermeyer
Day 182: 5 Minute Freewrite: Thursday - Prompt: red wine by @mariannewest
This short freewrite brings back a fond memory for me as a child.
The year was, I believe, 1991, possibly sooner. I went along on a family trip to Key West, and the trip was not meant to be child friendly by any means. I remember being set at the bar in Sloppy Joe's, an open air establishment on the bar scene on the small island. The house band playing that song. Thank you for the memories!
I love the song and that's an awesome freewrite. I thought it might be a woman, haha, you got me!
This was great! You really had me, and then you played even harder when it turns out they never even owned it!
what a fun twist - its the car....