"Aw, Third-Eye, it's good to see ya, damn, its been a few years already. But hell, you don't have to worry about me driving home drunk. First of all, I don't have a car, and second, I don't have a home!"

"Oh yeah!" says Third-Eye beaming happily over the two thoughts strung together like a poem in rhyme.

"So let me buy your sorry eyes a drink!" booms Mad Jack.

"Alright! Sold!" and Third-Eye hefts a bottle up from the hidden regions of the bar and dashes the contents against the inside of a glass, and throws it and his head back and back. "Yeah, that hits the spot!" grins Third-Eye. "Excuse me, I got to take care of business," and he ambles heavily in flat-footed steps down the bar until he gets to the upraised arm of Delaney, who is ordering another grumbling drink. Drink served, Third-Eye ambles flat heavy feet and all back up to Mad Jack. "Delaney says you're an asshole," reports Third-Eye. "Don't say anything.

 

 

Don't start a fight. We both know he's an asshole hisself, so let it ride." Mad Jack starts to get his coils of red hair up, but huffs, sits back down and starts to chuckle.

"OK, OK, I'll be a saint. So bless me. Give me another drink."

"That's what I like to hear," smiles Third-Eye and hefts up a bottle to pour without looking down. He looks straight at Mad Jack, which is to say, his eyes are looking out sideways to the front door to one side, and to Delaney to the other side. "Hey, Mad Jack, did you hear that story about Raunchy?" he asks his customer.

"No, I been out of town, what is it?" "Well, my gal Sweetbuns-god, how I ever latched on to her is more than I can figure-you know, the one that thinks I look like Buddha, who ever the hell that is."

"I think he's a rock star," says Mad Jack.

"Yeah, you know," Third Eye pauses thinking, "I think you're right. So anyway, my little Sweetbuns, she is talking about Chauncey that works over on the Blazing Queen, you know, that dragger boat down the dock, anyway, she don't like Chauncey, and so she calls him Raunchy, and she's telling a story about him, how he always smells like anchovies and all, and this one particular guy