Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones Vagabonds Vol. 3 | Page 7

Hold On by Casey Dolan
Flames of the Rubicon
Bob Carlton
By being here in the first place, Billy Chase was already admitting
failure. He liked to believe he was somehow transgressing, but he was
well aware of the fact that no one gave a damn where he was or what he
was doing. As he sat daydreaming near midnight over his first beer, a
remarkably ugly and stupendously drunk woman wavered in front of him.
“Do you want to dance?” is what he believed she was asking.
“No thanks,” he replied, trying to muster some wit on short notice,
“I haven't had nearly enough to drink yet for that.”
With a look that was either drunkenly sour at a perceived insult
that was in reality social ineptitude, or simply palsied, she lurched away
into the darkness and noise, the latter of which Billy thought excessive,
even for Biker Night. He sat for a few minutes with an empty mug
sweating onto his table while the nearest waitress laughed, flirted, and
served her more engaging and lucrative clientele. Across the room he saw
a couple dancing, and he suddenly realized that the woman might very
well be his daughter's kindergarten teacher. A glance seemed to pass
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