Tommy's Pub By Xavier J. Sun

Hi, I am new to writers forum but I can handle the critics. So bring it on and be as brutally honest as you like and tell me what you think. If you hate it tell me why. Most misspellings during the dialogue are on purpose, to show his accent. If there are other grammar issues or visual issues let me know. Long for a first post but give it a chance if you have the time. Thanks look forward to the response.

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

Tommy’s Pub
By Xavier J. Sun
​

The pub manager was sitting on the trunk of a faded gold Toyota Camry parked in the shade of an old oak tree. He was text messaging on his cell phone and holding a tennis ball. It was my first day of training at a British pub called Tommy’s.
“Yo, son. My name is Vincenzo, but everyone around here calls me Bada-boom. Ya get it? Bada-bing, bada-boom. That’s me, anyway, the way shit works around here, first thing ya gotta know, never talk back to the boss, son. I’m the boss, nigga. Youse gotta problem with that? Good, I didn’t think so. Now, youse look like a decent kid so I’ll give ya a shot but one thing youse gotta remember, I know everything that goes down around here, son. If I ever hear youse or anybody else is talking shit, nigga, it’s nothing for me to replace youse with some other motherfucker from the streets.”
He threw the tennis ball across the parking lot and his pit bull, Gotti, chased it.
“I like to take things slow to start off, son. I’ll take youse through step-by-step. Show ya what I expect from youse and then when business dies down, we’ll take a little break, but first things first. I’ll show you how I like to start off the day, nigga.”
I was sitting on the ground leaning against the oak tree. He jumped off the trunk of the car and opened the driver’s side door from the inside because all the outside door handles were broken off. He sat down in the seat and then pulled out a Ziploc baggie from his center console. He found an envelope on the floor of the passenger side and set it gently on his lap and then emptied marijuana from the baggie out onto the envelope and began breaking it up, separating the stems and seeds.
“Now, there is really only one rule I have for all my cooks. Youse have to be able to work under any conditions whatsoever. I’m only going to show youse things once and then I want youse to duplicate what youse sees. Ya gotta keep your eyes and ears open, but youse can keep your mouth shut, son.”
He licked the edges of both sides of a brown blunt wrap . He gently placed the weed inside the wrap and began to roll it. He licked both ends of the blunt and then set it aside. He folded up the envelope, discarded the stems and seeds into the grass and then placed the baggie back into the console.
“I always like to smoke out my cooks on the first day, son. You can tell a hell of a lot about a person when ya smoke a blunt with them. Ya know what I’m sayin’?”
He looked into the review mirror and ran his fingers through his short brown hair. He adjusted the gold horn on his necklace. He looked over at me smiling and revealed jagged teeth.
“How youse like my new fade, son? Yeah, I just got it cut last week. The Thai girls cut it for me, son, ya know the ones down on forty-ninth? I really should go over to the south side to get my cut. Them niggas know how to ride, son. Ya know what I’m sayin’?”
He pulled out a lighter from his jean pocket and lit up the blunt. The end of the blunt glowed bright orange as he inhaled a long drag. He handed the blunt to me. I brought it to my lips and inhaled. I coughed and then he said,
“Ya only got a few months to get like me, son. Once I show youse all I know in the kitchen, I want youse to be better than me, nigga. I wanna go in that kitchen and order anything off the menu and have it taste just like I made it myself. Ya hear me, nigga?”
I coughed and then took another a hit. I licked my lips and tasted vanilla.
“I want youse to be better than me, son.”
I handed the blunt back to him. He puffed slowly on it and then made smoke rings with his mouth and watched them float into the air. A waitress came out of the pub and yelled for us. He waved his hand at her and then set the blunt on his makeshift ashtray underneath the radio in the car. We both went back into the pub.
The pub was named after a World War I reference to soldiers in the British Army, similar to Joe in the American Army. The pub was located on one of the main streets in the city and had a nice outside patio deck with tables and chairs. It was hard to find an empty table for lunch when the weather was nice.

Three months passed and each shift we worked together we’d take an afternoon break by the old oak tree. I got used to working under the influence and felt like I cooked better after I’d smoked because I was so hungry most of the time. He hired two other cooks and all of us traded shifts. One afternoon, after taking a long break, I sat in a plastic chair outside the back door to the pub. One of the other cooks came outside and lit up a cigarette.
“You know, I could use some help upstairs,” he said.
I stared in front of me without moving. He waved his hand in front of my eyes but I didn’t blink. He went back inside and then a few moments later he and Bada came out.
“What’s wrong with you?” Bada asked.
“I’m on break,” I said without looking at him.
He snapped his fingers in front of my face and I didn’t blink. He laughed. He bent down and leaned in only inches away from my face.
“You will get up and go down to the walk-in, break down all the boxes, and then take out the trash. You will go upstairs and sweep the floor. You will work hard for the boss.” He laughed again and then turned to the other cook.
“He’s just high, leave him and he’ll be back eventually,” Bada said.
They both went back inside. I watched ravens land on the branches of the old oak tree as the leaves shook slightly in the wind. I got up and went inside.

Another month passed and two new cooks had been hired to replace the older cooks who’d moved on. Back in the parking lot, under the old oak tree, Bada was in the middle of a story about a fight at the pub. Jimmy, one of the new bouncers, was listening.
“So I pulled out my brass knuckles, son, cuz you know I always keep ‘em in my back pocket. The drunk motherfucker was stumbling toward the door and tried to leave without paying. I slipped the ‘nucks on my hand then straight dropped that nigga to the floor. Bam!”
He swung his right fist hard up into the air and then twisted around on his left foot. Jimmy, at six foot three and three hundred pounds, towered over Bada.
“Yeah, that’s when I came in and dragged him out,” Jimmy said.
“But yeah, son, that was nothing compared to my days up in Riker’s Island,” Bada said from the side of his mouth as a Newport cigarette dangled on his lips.
“Oh shit, you did time up there?” Jimmy asked.
“You know it’s the truth, son. I fucked around with that coke back up in New York.”
“They got that good powder down in Miami, though,” Jimmy said.
“Back in the day, a key in Brooklyn could go for ten to twelve G’s, son, easy money. Sell it to them college kids for double that and I just made a profit, nigga.”
“Damn.”
“I be runnin’ these streets, son, what you know ‘bout that?”
Another cook came down for a cigarette break and I headed back into the pub.

A couple weeks went by and then the pub started to prepare for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. I found it humorous that the British pub was best known for an annual Irish heritage holiday. After my shift that night I stuck around the bar and had a few drinks. I allowed myself to drink one or two more than I normally would and I started a fight with one of the other cooks on duty. Bada dragged me out of the kitchen and sat me down in the plastic chair near the back door.
“I thought you Irish boys could hold your liquor,” he said as he puffed on a cigarette.
“I’m phhine,” I said.
“You know, you don’t have to try and stick up for me in front of the other cooks.”
“But yerrr my boy, riiight?”
“Nah, I’m your boss. Don’t get it twisted. Get it the car. I’m taking you home.”

After that night, Bada introduced me to his girlfriend, Delilah. Her ocean blue eyes and curly blonde hair contrasted against his brown eyes and olive skin. They’d met at the pub two years ago when Delilah had just started there. She moved on to a job at the airport, but spent most of her free time at the pub. They’d been living together in a house his brother had bought to fix up.
“Vinny, you never make time for me.” She never called him Bada.
“Baby, I’m making time for you right now. What do you want from me?”
“I want to know I’m the only woman in your life,” she said as she packed a bowl in a long brown pipe that was designed to look like a seashell. Bada massaged her bare feet as he sat on the ground next to the car parked in the shade of the old oak tree.
“You’re everything to me, baby. You’re all I need,” he said and then stubbed his cigarette out in the dirt.
“What about those letters?” She took a hit from the pipe and then passed it to him.
“I told you to shut your mouth about that, Dee. I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll take care of it. That’s what you always say and then nothing gets done.”
“What do you want from me? I give you everything a girl could need and all you do is bitch about some letters.”
“I don’t want that kid in your life. You need to tell me the truth about this. I want it all or nothing.”
“He’s not even my child. I’m getting the DNA test done. It just takes time, baby.”
“You think I’m just going to wait around for you? That bitch ain’t gettin' a dime of child support. You ain’t even the father, right?”
“Dee, I’ve explained this to you a million times. I only knew her six years ago, now she comes out of nowhere telling me I have a child. What would you do?”
He got up and put the pipe in between her legs then leaned in and kissed her. He positioned himself on top of her in the driver’s seat and they started to make out.
A few nights later, after my shift had ended, I was standing outside in the parking lot and the white glow of the moon reflected off the raindrops that were dripping slowly from the leaves of the old oak tree. My cell phone rang.
“Yo, son. I need you to do me a favor tonight.”
“Anything for you. What’s up?”
“Stay there. I’ll pick you up in ten.”
Forty-minutes later he drove into the parking lot, popped open the passenger side door and I got in.
“I need your help to smooth out a situation, son. I have to be in two places at once. I’ve been staying at Jade’s place and watching Lil’ T recently so she’d get off my back about that child support bullshit. Dee got pissed and moved into her grandma’s place. Tonight, I told Jade I’d watch over Lil’ Tony while she’s at her nursing job, but ya know Dee is all on my shit about spending time with her so I gotta go hook up with her tonight and shit is just all fucked up, son.”
He passed me a blunt. I took long slow drags and he kept talking.
“So, what I need you to do is just chill at Jade’s house and watch Lil’ T, while I go take care of business with Dee. I’ll be there until five in the morning. That’s when Jade gets off her shift. There’s an Xbox 360 and GTA IV so you should be fine.”
I passed him back the blunt and he speeded down the road to Jade’s house. We went inside. Lil’ Tony was asleep in his room and Jade had already left.
“Okay, Jade shouldn’t be back until five. I’ll be back before then. I’m gonna bounce. I’ll see you later, son.”
He left me some weed and I played Xbox and smoked until Jade walked in the door at three in the morning.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked. We’d met once before.
“Um…”
“Where the hell is Vince?” She never called him Vinny.
“He just left to get a blunt.”
“He’s fucking that girl isn’t he? godammet, I knew it. That fucking asshole.”
She slammed her fist down on the table and then fixed the shirt of her red nurse uniform as she walked to Lil’ Tony’s room to check on him. He was still asleep.
“Tell Vince I don’t want him coming back here. He can have that bimbo slut. I have to go back to work.”
She slammed the door as she went out. Gotti, the pit bull, stretched out in front of the door to Lil’ Tony’s room and put his head down over his paws. I shrugged and then started playing Xbox again.
Two hours later, Bada walked through the door.
“Jade stopped by on her break.”
“I know. She called me while I was with Dee. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”
He started rolling a blunt on the table and then Jade walked in.
“What’s up? How was work?” Bada asked without getting up.
“Fine,” she went into the bathroom and took out the hair tie from her highlighted brown hair. She brushed her hair out and let it fall across her shoulders. She sat down at the table.
“Got this blunt right here. Now everything is good.”
“The fuck it is.”
“Don’t start that shit again. Have some of this.” He passed the blunt to her and she took a drag. They passed it back and forth and then to me.
“You think I’m fucking stupid, Vincent?”
“It’s nothing, I’m right here, aren’t I? What do you want from me?”
“You said you wanted to be a part of this family.”
“I am. I’m here.”
“You’re not always here, Vince. You run off. I want Tony to have a family.”
“I do, too.”
“I want to give him what you and I never had. Why can’t you understand that?”
He laughed. “I doooo.”
“Why you think I let you stay here the last few months? Huh?”
He blew smoke in her face.
“Just so you can run around town all night. I don’t know where you are.”
“J, we talked about this. Let it go.”
The blunt was out and we got up to leave.
“If you walk out that door, I don’t want you coming back here Vincent!”
Bada dropped me off at home.

A couple months passed and Delilah started bartending at the pub. She also doubled as a cook as we struggled to keep employees in the kitchen. She’d moved out of her grandmother’s house and got her own place. Bada hired a childhood girlfriend of Delilah’s. The girl was on work release from prison and after only a month Bada invited her over to his brother’s house to help paint the living room. I sat on the trunk of his car while he acted out the scene in the parking lot during a break under the old oak tree.
“So there she was right, wearing this tight little white t-shirt, son. With her little nipples poking out while she’s reaching high above her head with the paint roller. She’s got on these tight ass booty shorts that are just straight hugging up on her ass, nigga. So she goes to bend over and get more paint on the roller right, then I just come up behind her and grab her around the waist real rough and then she turns and faces me. I put my tongue in her mouth and then I grab her by the throat and put my other hand between her legs and she’s totally into it, son. She’s grabbing my dick and then we just start fucking on the living room floor.”
A few nights later, the girl had one too many drinks before she went back to the work release home. She got sent back to prison for violating her terms of release. About a month later, Bada showed me a letter she’d written him. He said he couldn’t wait for her to get out.
On one slow afternoon at the pub, Bada challenged me to a game of pool. We played a couple of games and he won both times. During the third game he gave me a few pointers on how to bank and put the right amount of English on shots. He told me about the league he played in and how he and Delilah had a serious competition when it came to pool. In fact, I’d watched them play against each other a few times and she was quite good.
He’d told me many times on long drives in the car, while passing a blunt back and forth, that Delilah was the one he wanted to be with. He told me about growing up in orphanages in Brooklyn and never knowing his father. He told me about getting into a small college on a football scholarship and that he’d gotten injured on his right knee and been placed in a wheelchair for a year. He’d lost the scholarship and never finished school.
“After all that, I just started selling drugs and figured I could make it on my own. Then I got this job at Tommy’s and now they are talking about making me a partner in the business, son.”
“Really?”
“I talked to Randy about it last week. They want to give me more control over the entire operation, son. I’ll be runnin’ that pub, son.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, son. I mean I don’t know what I would do without that place.”
He inhaled a long drag off the blunt.
“I’m nothing without Tommy’s,” he said.

A few months later, a rumor spread that the owners had sold the pub for two million dollars. Brown leaves covered the ground surrounding the old oak tree in the parking lot. Bada sat on the trunk of his car, I leaned against the tree and Delilah sat in the driver’s seat with the door open. Gotti was laying down in the back seat.
“I’ve been here for over four years. I can’t believe this, son.”
“I’m shocked.”
“I guess I’ll have to stick it out. See if the new owners are ‘bout that money.”
“I’ll probably just go back to the airport if this doesn’t work out.”
Delilah lit the seashell pipe and we passed it around. Bada’s cell phone rang and he answered it.
“Yeah, no doubt. I’ll be there,” he said and then closed the phone.
“Yo, son. You can help Jade move into my brother’s house this weekend?” he asked me.
“Of course,” I’d just inhaled from a hit off the pipe and he knew he’d asked me at the right time. I exhaled and watched the smoke float between the bare branches of the old oak tree.
“That was supposed to be our house,” Delilah said.
“Shut the fuck up,” he said to her and then leaned into the car and kissed her.
“You’re an asshole.”
“And you love it.” He kissed her again.
That weekend I helped move Jade into his brother’s house. Bada made a deal with her that she could pay low rent and be comfortable if she didn’t make him pay child support as long as he’d come and see Lil’ Tony and help pay for his new school. They finally agreed to officially date other people. Delilah got a bartending job near the airport and also started back to school. Bada moved in with her and started collecting unemployment after the new pub owners fired the entire staff.

Today, the name of the pub has changed but I can still walk by the parking lot and see the faces of the kitchen sitting in the shade of the old oak tree.



[FONT=&quot](c) 2013 copyright Xavier J. Sun [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​