“Goddammit, I’m drunk!” Ray-Ray wasn’t – but he fully intended to be before the night was over. He slammed the empty shot glass down on the bar. It was a night for getting drunk, to let his three sheets flap in the wind. Though he wasn’t a good drinker, when the occasion arose he was more than willing to meet it head on. And what better place than his favorite watering hole, The Toasted Bone, to get smashed. The Toasted Bone was a familiar joint, a neighborhood meeting spot that offered all the comforts that a drinking man could ask for; bar stools, wooden tables and an attentive bartender.
The bar was slowly filling up but Ray-Ray didn’t see anyone that he would like to drink with, none of his buddies that he could laugh and get wild with, and when the old man sat down next to him, Ray-Ray simply looked straight ahead at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar.
“Gimme a mule,” the old man said. The bartender set the drink down in front of the old man and retreated down to the end of the bar. The old man pulled a flask out of his pocket and quickly poured a dollop of moonshine into the glass. He looked over at Ray-Ray and held the flask up, offering. Ray-Ray shook his head. “No thank you sir,” he said. He snuck a peek at the old man. “If you don’t mind me asking; what is that drink that you are putting on top of another drink?”
“It’s otherworldly type shit,” he said. “The type of shit that you been looking for.”
Ray-Ray was taken aback. “Me? What you talking about? Do I know you? Do you know me? No. You don’t know me. What do you think I’m looking for? I know that it ain’t in a bottle of whatever you’re drinking.”
The old man smiled at him before taking a sip. “You sure about that?” hesshook the flask at Ray-Ray. “You sure you don’t want none of this here? It will change your world. And your world needs changing.”
“It does, huh?” Ray-Ray said.
“Yeah, that’s why you’re trying to find peace and quiet in the carbonated spirits. I’ve been there and done that. Don’t work as well as this otherworldly shit though. I been around the world, aye, aye, aye! Around the motherfucking world! And there ain’t no world like this other world here.”
“What in the hell are you talking about,” Ray-Ray said.
“See. You think you know. You do! You think you know… but you don’t know. I know. But you don’t know.” The old man wrapped his hands around his drink and held it firmly. His eyes glistened and Ray-Ray saw something in his stare, a wisdom that old men shared after the spirits hit them.
“So what is that you drinking,” Ray-Ray asked again.
“Never share a drink with a stranger,” the old man said and slipped the flask back in his pocket.. “There’s trouble on the bottom of the glass. Trouble. Trouble.” He reached his hand out to Ray-Ray. “Monty,” he said. “My name is Monty.”
Ray-Ray took his hand and shook it. “Ray-Ray,” he said.
“Ray-Ray,” Monty said. “Now we ain’t strangers no more.” He cackled an old laugh, a whiskey giggle with a slap to the top of the bar. “I’ll tell you what I’m drinking but a story comes with it. A story that you ain’t gonna believe but one that was made for you. You ready?”
“Made for me? Otherworldly shit?” Ray-Ray gave him a smile and lifted his drink. “Yeah. I’m ready.”
“You playing me for a fool,” Monty said. “But that’s alright. Been done before and it ain’t harmed me yet.” Monty was a thin man, wiry, with the lanky frame of a runner. His eyes were slanted oddly, seemingly placed on his face by an unjust god, glinting strangely in the dark. When he spoke, Ray-Ray caught a whiff of burning, an incense that he couldn’t describe and his mouth hung on his face in a lopsided grin. He smiled at Ray-Ray now, his teeth a flash of white that seemed out of place.
“How about I tell you a story,” Monty said. “Now, when I tell you this story, this story of you and yours and your life and the real you, you ain’t gonna believe it. You gonna need some of this mule.” He patted his pocket and Ray-Ray. Ray-Ray declined again. “Ok. I’ll save it for you.” He glanced around the bar, shrugged his shoulders and got comfortable, rubbed his chin and fixed Ray-Ray in his stare. A strange glint emanated from his eyes, the left one seemed to glow and pulse.
Ray-Ray blurted out. “Pardon me for asking, but what’s wrong with your eye?”
“Oh, this?” Monty said. He reached up and took his eye out of its socket and laid it on the bar. “I lost the real one but I’m due to get it back soon.”
Ray-Ray nearly jumped out of his seat. “What the hell?”
The eye was pulsing, giving off an eerie light and Ray-Ray thought he saw it move. Monty watched him, bemused, his only eye twinkled and his lip curled.
“What? You never seen an eye before?”
“That is not funny Monty! That’s kind of nasty and shit! Nasty work!”
“It’s an eye,” Monty said. He picked it up and fitted it back into his head. “Lesson one. Don’t ask questions that you can’t handle the answer, son.”
He smiled a huge smile. “You sure you don’t want this otherworldly type shit?”