Bar «Free drinks for your souls» - Poladov Erick

Bar «Free drinks for your souls»

Erick Poladov

© Erick Poladov, 2023

ISBN 978-5-0060-3979-7

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

***

1. OPEN 24/7

The bitterness of loss has reached its peak. He felt every drop of rain running down his skin as his hands reluctantly leveled the sodden soil over the grave of a very young wife and two children. The plague irrevocably claimed their lives, as did the lives of thousands of other residents of nearby settlements in eastern France.

Thirty-three-year-old Louis Morel was left alone. Everything he once had now lay in the ground before his bowed knees. Continuous tears fell to the ground and were lost in the rain puddles. His callus-covered hands of an artisan were hidden under a thick layer of black earth that had penetrated under his nails and covered his fingers and palms.

Heartbroken, Louis ignored the heavy rain and continued to kneel in front of the graves of Mona, Antoine and Mathilde. His soiled shirt and trousers were soaked to the skin, and drops hitting his body flew off with spray.

It seemed that just recently he lulled his beloved son and daughter, telling them fairy tales before going to bed. There were still memories of how Antoine and Mathilde tried to help their mother make pies, getting dirty in flour so much that their faces were completely covered with it. He returned after work and was warmly greeted by Mona. Every morning he woke up and the first thing he saw in front of him was Mona. He fell asleep late at night and the last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Mona. She has always been an exemplary housewife and caring mother. But the main thing is that he saw in her what he did not find in any other woman  a mutual attraction that was so strong that two hearts and two souls always seemed to be something indivisible. He and his wife were like two magnets that are constantly attracted, regardless of distance and time. But now the attraction is broken. All that is left of him is the second magnet, which can no longer attract anything as strongly as those three lost magnets.

Louis spent almost two hours at the grave before his glands stopped producing tears. The rain had already stopped by then. The sky still retained its gloomy appearance, which was given to it by thick gray clouds.

He got up from his knees, turned around and, barely moving his legs, began to move away from the grave, leaving a shovel lying nearby, with which he forcefully forced himself to dig a hole. He will never forget these terrible moments. Every shovel of the earth that had to be thrown aside, he will remember forever.

Not noticing the deep puddles on the path, Louis walked straight through them. In the same way, he did not notice the carriages passing by. All the skin on his face was pretty reddened from prolonged crying. He walked along the edge of the road like a zombie. Zombie thoughts of sorrow. And so he moved for more than an hour. He made his way to the denouement before the edge of the forest. His village was located behind the forest, which went around the right path and led to the village, and the left, which led to the city. The route did not occupy his head. Louis did not ask questions about which way was more convenient, faster or safer. Beyond the forest was a village. He did not turn off, but continued to move straight through the forest. The last time he walked this route was when he was twelve and he and his friends played hide-and-seek after going either for berries or mushrooms. Since then, he returned to these places only for firewood, not crossing the forest up and down, but reaching only its central part, where there were the most mature and even tree trunks.

He passed by an old elm and, gradually crossing the edge of the forest, plunged into its very thick, where the sunlight was hardly noticeable even on the clearest days. The ground in the forest was littered with fallen leaves, which would soon disappear altogether, after which the trees would bare their cold autumn trunks and branches.

Louis walked forward without moving his eyes. Soon, a strange light caught his attention. The glow grew brighter as Louis moved deeper into the forest. After a while, more lights appeared.

What could shine so brightly in a dense forest? This question, although not immediately, but still got to the surface of Louiss half-dead consciousness. His legs remained as sluggish, but moved a little faster, and his arms hung motionless.

Soon, an open and rather spacious place appeared in front of Louis. As if someone cut down the trees on purpose to clear the area.

It was full of giant pine trees last week, Louis thought. For the first time in a whole week, he thought of something else besides his wife and children who were very ill.

There was a building in the middle. It was built of wood and had two floors. The walls were hidden under a dull woody hue. The open shutters were red. The first floor was surrounded by a spacious terrace from the outside, which was filled with chairs and tables. Empty glass bottles lay on some tables, and next to them, the muzzles of snoring patrons lay back.

Curiosity arose so suddenly and grew stronger every second. Louis wondered how there could be a building here that he didnt even know existed.

He walked towards the front. Above the entrance was a sign that said «welcome» at the top, and just below it, in large letters, was the name of the establishment «FREE DRINKS FOR YOUR SOULS». Louis climbed the wooden steps in his heavily mud-covered boots. With a hesitant movement, Louis slowly pushed the right half of the swing doors away from him and took a few hesitant, timid steps.

It was quiet and deserted inside. In addition to Louis, there was another person in the room. He was busy scrubbing the floor, turning chairs upside down on tables. Noticing how another visitor was inside, the stranger looked up from the mop and turned to the guest:

 Good evening.

Louis looked around for a moment. The stranger stood motionless and silent. His eyes patiently looked at Louis, who was silent for a long time, but soon uttered:

 Good evening.

The stranger looked about forty years old. He was of medium height, with broad shoulders, bright light blue eyes, and very short hair. The hair on his head, every last one, was gray, which was very rare for a man of forty. But that didnt make him look old at all.

He turned to Louis:

 Please  the stranger pointed to the far end of the room, where there was a bar counter.

Understanding nothing and not going into details, Louis blindly followed the guy in the apron. Under the apron, he wore a black vest and a white shirt underneath. The stranger took off his apron and only then threw back the lid of the bar and followed her.

 What do you want?

Louis continued to be silent as a fish. His eyes looked somewhere ahead, like glass.

 You can sit down  the guy said, pointing to one of the chairs in front of the counter.

Louis landed slowly, then noticed how badly he had stained the polished floor.

Reading this in the eyes of the client, the stranger hastened to reassure him:

 Dont worry about that. Right now you dont have to worry about cleanliness. Especially since youre not the only one leaving footprints on my floor. So

Louis blinked and interrupted the bartender in a slightly animated tone.

 What do you have in mind?

 Sorry?

Louis eyed the bartender suspiciously.

 You said I shouldnt be concerned about cleanliness. What did you mean?

 Well  the bartender thoughtfully looked at the ceiling. «Its just» he searched for words for some time, after which he abruptly continued, looking away somewhere to the side  its dirty outside, so it makes no sense to pay attention to dirt when you cant do without it.

Then the bartender cheered up and repeated the question:

 So what do you want to drink?

 I I dont have any money with me.

 Is this your first time with us?

 Yes  Louis replied in a timid voice.

 Then for the first time at the expense of the institution.

Thoughts of the loss of the family again burst into my head. He replied in a dead tone:

 Lets get something stronger.

 One minute  the bartender said cheerfully and with a satisfied smile, raising his index finger.

The bartender began to rearrange the bottles from the shelves behind him into the work area. He set a small glass in front of him, into which he began to pour a bunch of all sorts of drinks in different proportions.

While the bartender conjured his drink, Louis looked around. Suspicion did not disappear from his face, and at the same time, the intrigued mind did not free itself from surprise at the picture that appeared in the seemingly dense forest. He didnt understand anything. More recently, this place was a continuous thicket of trees.

 How long has your establishment been operating? Louis asked.

The bartender looked at him with a grin and replied:

 Youre asking the wrong question.

 What should I ask?

 You should not be interested in «WHEN?» we opened, but for «WHO?»

At the end, he slightly swirled the liquid along the transparent walls of the glass, stirring the ingredients a little, and placed the transparent vessel in front of Louis, while saying in a cheerful voice:

 Ask.

Louis was still suspicious of everything that was happening. And the most suspicious was the liquid that rested at the bottom of the glass in front of him and was a mixture of who knows what. He examined the contents of the glass. It was a cocktail of a light golden hue. With some hesitation, he took a small sip, which was very hard. Louis coughed and asked:

 What is the name of this drink?

Actively wiping the glasses to a shine with a towel, the bartender replied:

 «Hell Ride».

Louis confirmed the bartenders words:

 The taste is truly infernal.

The bartender laughed.

 This is the strongest thing I can do. As you asked.

Still coughing, Louis suddenly remembered:

 Oh, sorry. And how to contact you?

 Call me Albert, Louis.

Louis looked at the bartender in surprise.

 How do you know my name?

 It just suits you.

Ignoring this, Louis continued to ask:

 Tell Albert, is it always so empty here?

 I wouldnt say its empty. After all, there are at least two people here. An empty room or a full one does not depend on the number of its inhabitants, but rather on how alive they look. Sometimes there is more life in one person than in a whole crowd.

With a blank look, Louis looked into the glass and, having prepared himself, took another sip, after which once again he felt this incredibly daring burning taste.

 Whats on the second floor? Louis asked, face twisted with bitterness in his mouth.

 There are numbers. Our establishment is both a bar and a hotel.

 So all the visitors are probably now in their rooms.

Albert smiled and shrugged. He kept wiping the glasses endlessly.

Louis continued to take sips until he drained his glass.

 Excuse me, Albert?

 Yes?

 Can I drink something else like that? And I would bring the money later. My home is not far from these places.

 Well,  the bartender drawled,  I never refuse a client such a request. After all, we cant foresee everything, and even more so when we need money. Sometimes unexpected things happen in life. It is so?

«Exactly,» Louis answered in the affirmative. But he said it in a healthy voice. In those moments, a kind of serenity and malicious resentment against the whole world settled in his soul at the same time. Moreover, the second feeling gradually faded away. He suddenly almost forgot about the dead children and wife. Now I remember them again. He remembered, but for some reason did not feel bitter sorrow, as if everything happened too long ago to grieve about it. And it didnt feel like being drunk. He had never experienced such a feeling that everything bad would stop tormenting his soul so abruptly. And this is strange, because Louis has never stood out as callous in his life.

Even if you drink a barrel of wine, the effect will be much weaker than one glass of this «Hell trip»  Louis thought.

He drank three more glasses of liquor. The first was called «Flight to the Stars», the second  «On the way to ecstasy», and the third  «Living Blood».

 Apparently, you have come a long way  politely uttered Albert after the fourth glass lost the last drop of contents.

Louis nodded jerkily several times, as if something was preventing him from uttering even one word sound.

 Lets go. You need rest. Ill show you the number.

The bartender politely escorted Louis to the stairs and took him to a spare room on the second floor.

2. WELCOME

Louis was awakened by some noise that came from below. He woke up and his first thoughts were connected with his family. The day began with a soul-depressing sorrow. He wanted to shed tears again, but something prevented him.

He left his room and went down the stairs to the first floor.

The bar was full of customers. There were no free tables. Louis looked around and wondered how such a crowd could accommodate in an institution. The apple had nowhere to fall. From their appearance, he knew that the visitors were not from this area. It was hard to believe that they were from neighboring villages or nearby cities. Most of them were dressed somehow atypically for the present times, and many spoke in unfamiliar languages and strange dialects, and often used long-outdated words. Then it turned out that most of them are not French at all and their native language is different, hence the strong accent. It also looked interesting that among the visitors there were both representatives of the working classes  blacksmiths, grocers, fishermen, carpenters, butchers and other commoners, as well as people from the upper classes  nobles, merchants, close aristocratic families and even those who looked like boyars or patricians of the distant past.

Now it was a completely different place. It didnt seem to Louis as nice and peaceful as it had looked yesterday. There was an atmosphere in the bar that he did not like at all. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible, and if he did return, it would be solely to repay the bartender. This place made him feel intense discomfort, so strong that he even forgot about the loss. How could such different people gather in one place, and even sit with each other at the same table and talk heart to heart over a glass? Rich with rich, poor with poor. It had always been that way, and what Louis eyes saw, any normal person would have considered unnatural and wrong. This is contrary to the established norms of society. But in some incomprehensible way, nevertheless, these persons coexist quite harmoniously within the same premises and, it seems, neither one nor the other is in any hurry to leave the building or at least somehow protect themselves from representatives of another class.

In the village where Louis lives, there are no rich people and they are not treated with respect. Each villager imagined a wealthy person as the result of doing business in which there is no place for decency and justice, but only selfishness and greed.

Be that as it may, he decided that he should return home as soon as possible.

 Um  Louis drawled as he walked up to the counter, squeezing between two customers  Albert?

 Yes?

 Thank you for yesterday. If you dont mind, Ill go home and bring the money in by tonight.

 Oh, sure.

It was noisy all around. Everyone was talking about something. At a table in the corner, four people took turns playing backgammon for elimination. A couple of tables gathered those who were puzzled by the search for answers to the questions of the universe, the existence of a certain balance regarding karma for misdeeds, which expresses human freedom, where lies the line between the forbidden and the permitted, and other philosophical topics. Among the rest were those who washed down grief with the cheapest alcohol; someone diligently read something; at the foot of the stairs, a couple of moderately sober and very brave clients suddenly had an insight that it was time to sort things out, but not with empty chatter, but exclusively in a fistfight with an admixture of strabismus under the influence of a liter of bourbon. There were also those who threw the dice, after which the loser drank one hundred grams from a personal bottle that stood near the glass, and the winner was the one who had more contents in the bottle.