Legion Hall beer is nice. I mean, it's still that piss they bottle in south seattle out here, Ranier, but they at least have it on tap so you don't get the skunky aftertaste from the plastic bottles.
Deke Hawkes is an actual hero. way back before I was born, he carried two buddies fourteen miles up a mountain trail while wounded. For which, he rightly got a Navy Cross.
"Sup Quentin?" he asks.
"check day." I tell him. "I yet remain a drain on the collective wealth of this nation."
he motions to Gary, who fills me a glass of piss-poor Washington State beer. Hey, at least it's not Schmidt.
"Heard you had a little excitement." Deke leads.
"Deke, the kid was clearly his first time out and had no idea what he was doing. He ruined my shirt."
"you let him go?"
"I let him go. NOT a hero, not licensed, bonded or certified...well, except maybe by Uncle Sam's Psychiatric doctors."
"you called your aunt this week?" he asks.
"NO." I tell him. "What would I say? 'Hi Aunt Cindy, sorry I haven't been around, by the way, I'm one of those super-freaks and the government doesn't want me back'?" I give the barman my card, he runs it, and starts my tab, "By the way, my nightmares fracture concrete and there might be some men by from the Department of Superhuman Affairs to see if I'm ready to cave and go work with the spandex brigade again?"
"That sounds like a decent start." he tells me.
"NO. It's not. Look, I don't have anything against cops, Deke, but while I was in the hands of those terrorists, my mom died in prison for selling pot and getting cancer...treatable cancer. I am not going to haul off and put on a federal badge to go put some kid away for sneaking a joint onto an airliner, especially since I've got papers to show Uncle Sam doesn't trust me to vote, drive a car, or own a gun."
"Last time you owned a gun, you tried to eat the bullets." he reminds me.
"Yeah, so?" I shrug, "I was depressed, they have pills for that, I take them."
"You eat them like tic-tacs, Lisa."
"so I do." I hoist my brew, he clinks it with his, in his VA-issue, half-the-time-broken, prosthetic hook.
"Weren't you supposed to get a new one of those?" I ask him.
"Yeah, get fitted in march for it."
"MARCH?? it's November now..."
"Lots of guys worse off than me, Lisa." he tells me seriously, "I can wait, there are kids your age and younger who really should have priority."
"I hear that, and then, I look at you not getting...EUGH!!"
"I'm used to it. Look, it took them thirty years to admit Agent orange was a thing, and I lost buddies to it the whole time, at least this time, they're prioritizing the kids coming home ahead of us old fossils."
"Deke, it's not right."
"In my experience, it never is." he said, "Except when we make it right."
i open my first prescription bottle, and take five with the rest of my first beer.
"I do not swallow expensive antidepressants like tic-tacs." I tell him,"I ingest them like aspirin."
"Distinction noted. Wanna play some pool Kid?"
"Sure." the teevee's ESPN is interrupted in the middle of a piece on Seattle's big-name hero, 'The Seahawk'. Personally, I don't get the big deal, he basically plays the merch game and does some super-power exhibition stuff that's more like dancing. There's a guy down in California who's got almost the same powers, but Black Rooster actually fights real criminals.
y'know, when he's not hawking sports drink or gym memberships.
"You've got powers, Lisa." Deke tells me, "You don't have to sign up for uncle sam's superpolice, there's private sector groups..."
"Uh, no, I have a power, and it's kind of not showy, also doing that would make my laundry bill go through the roof-it doesn't extend past my SKIN."
"Being invulnerable's a hell of a power, Lisa."
"No, it's not." I tell him, "Sure, it'd be great-if I..." if I didn't want to die "...was normal. but hey, yah, let's look at that seriously. NOT super-strong to go with it, not super-fast, i don't fly, i don't see through walls, I can't pick up scent trails, I don't have access to the electromagnetic spectrum...and that means my 'super career' is confined to 'brute force'-which ruins my clothing and makes messes. I can imagine the name they'd come up with though- 'the amazing gimp-girl!!' no, ******, thank you. You imagine what it would look like if I took on someone like Striker or Empyrion? maybe even if I won-the news would have to insert those little censor-bars!"
He grins a little too widely, "I'd watch that."
"You're a dirty old man and if your wife heard you say that she'd ban you from hanging out with me."
"Touche." he says, "Rack 'em up."
I rock the balls in the triangle, lift it up, and pick out a bar-cue for me, while Deke sets up his custom, handicap-friendly cue stick. "look at you, Captain Cue."
He laughs.
