I pay, and leave (Writing Night)

Prompt: Write a complete story where the final sentence is “I pay, and leave.”

Nancy In the Afternoon

I sit and the cracked leather upholstery scratches the bottom skin of my thighs as I shift around. It’s things like this that make an old broad like me feel at home here. I came to hear the hum of people, and have something else to do besides watch TV at home. By now the paper coaster under my 3rd glass has begun to peel. I don’t look around too much because I’m not trying to attract attention. Keep my eyes down or forward at the bar. The bar is dusty and the bottles are organized like a library – by color, size, within each liquor category, except tonight’s bartender is a bit sloppy and not putting them back right. The end of the shelves has amateur taxidermy of small critters: birds and rodents. They are real funny looking things, with their eyes and teeth a little too sunken or out of place. But their bodies look exactly like you’d think. I wonder how old they were when they y’know, and I wonder why animals when they age keep nearly the same shape. Lord knows humans don’t have that fortune – like me, these days I’m no longer round enough in the preferred places and plenty round in the rest. The abrupt change of song at the ancient jukebox brings me back and I look over at the wall clock. It’s about time for dinner. Ungluing my thighs from the seat one-by-one, I pay, and leave.

Every month my writing group convenes for 90 minutes. 30 mins of shooting the breeze, 30 mins of creative writing, and 30 minutes of sharing. This is the unedited result.