Chapter 25: Terry’s Bar & Grill
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” I Corinthians 16:13
It was evening when they anchored the TrogDogJonah at their next stop and went ashore on the notorious party capital known as Prince Edward Island (“nobody parties like a prince-edward-islander”, as they say.) Evening when the Admiral handed out wages and told them they all had 48 hours leave, but after that, the ship would leave! It was evening when the rest of the crew spread out into the city in search of food, drink, fighting, and female companionship (not necessarily in that order.) And it was evening when Luke, trying to be good, went down the road instead, and found himself in the quiet little town of Delightful. Evening, but there was still a little daylight left. On a warm fall night that seemed like summer’s last hurrah.
Delightful was a peaceful little farming community down in the valley, in a neighborly little kingdom called Joyful. Sounded good to Luke already.
Luke came down from the green rolling hills, and strolled amidst the amber waves of grain, and soon he found himself standing on the not-very-busy main street of Delightful, in front of a brick building with a wood sign announcing “Terry’s Bar & Grill”. The late-day sunlight was striking the side of the building, lighting up the brick, not in a blinding mid-day way, but in a warm, inviting way.
Luke accepted the invitation, and went in. It was a pretty nice looking establishment. Quaint, dimly lit, and nothing fancy, but it had kind of a homey feel, and Luke was glad to be there. When he heard Luke enter, a middle-aged man with a glass and a towel in his hand stepped out from the back, where he had been doing dishes. He had a deep tan and tough eyes; he wore a flannel shirt and some overalls; and he looked like he was still in pretty good shape for 50. He was wearing one of those farmer-type caps with the warm earflaps, ’cept he had them up because he was indoors and it was nice out anyway. He wore the cap a lot though, because he had gone gray and was going bald, and the cap made him look a little younger and tougher. No harm in that.
“Well hello, fella,” he greeted Luke. “Y’all are a stranger to these parts, I reckon.”
“That’s true,” Luke admitted. “I’m from up-north, in Hun-Country. I’m just kinda passin’ through here. It looks like a nice town though.”
“Ah yes, that’s why we call her Delightful,” the proprietor told him. “It ain’t much, but it feels like home. And the folks are friendly. Speakin’ of which...” He reached out and shook hands with Luke, and introduced himself: “Terry Harris. At your service.”
“Thanks. Luke the Hun, at yours.”
“So what can I do for you today, Luke? Would you care for something tasty to eat or drink?” Terry asked, since he was runnin’ a bar and grill after all.
Luke looked a little embarrassed and laughingly distressed. He had left his wages safely in his foot locker on the ship, not wanting to be like the other sailors who would squander theirs on a few nights of riotous living. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have left all of it. Luke turned out his pockets, showing off their emptiness. “Behold, I am poor,” he said with a still-self-esteemy grin.
Terry gave him a menu anyway, sayin’ generously, “That ain’t no issue, son. If you’re hungry, you get a meal. If you have no home, you get a place to stay. That’s the way we do things in these parts. God gives some people poverty to teach the others generosity, after all.”
“Wow! Much obliged,” Luke said gratefully. Then he leafed through the menu and politely requested some fried chicken and a glass of milk. Terry set the food to cookin’, and then when he came back Luke asked him, “Is there any work I can do for you or anything?”
Terry looked thoughtful. “Hmm. Now that you mention it, I guess I could use a hand on the farm tomorrow. It’s hard to run the business and still get the farmin’ done on my own, especially at my age. And lemme see, I guess tonight you could help with the cleanin’ up after closing time. And say, can you play that thing?” he asked, pointing at Luke’s guitar.
“I play it like an ace,” Luke bragged, using a witty double-entendre. (An ace is what you play, in cards, and how you play, in life. Luke was feelin’ like a winner, either way.)
“Right on,” said Terry. “You’re our featured entertainer tonight then. I hope you know a lot of country music.”
Luke gulped. “Not that much,” he admitted.
Terry gave him a probing look. “So what are you going to do then? You can’t just play what you want to hear, you gotta keep your audience happy after all. Believe me, you do not want to see farmers get unhappy! This a rowdy bunch, sometimes they stay out until almost 9 o’clock, getting crazy,” Terry cautioned.
Luke missed the sarcasm and got genuinely nervous. “Sow what do they like?”
“Well, half of them like good old-timey country, and half of them like the new fake kind,” Terry explained impartially. “It’s a battle to keep them all satisfied even if you do know country music!” Then he considered, “I don’t know whether that’s a positive reflection on how happy this valley is, and how few things there really are to quarrel over, or whether it’s a sad commentary on human nature that we find a way to disagree anyway.”
Luke really didn’t care what kind of commentary it was, he mainly was wondering what he was going to do about it! Terry helped out a little, spent some time helping Luke brush up on his country music, reminded him of a couple songs he might use. But the night crowd began trickling in early, and Terry had to get back to doing his own job. Luke still wasn’t sure he was ready, and whispered his concerns to Terry when he was able to catch his ear.
“Hey, I won’t be around to help you all the time,” Terry reminded him gruffly. “You’re in charge. You find a way to make it work. Just don’t let anybody walk on you, that’s my advice.”
Luke took a deep breath and came up with a plan.
When the crowd got there he gave a good show. He started with a couple jazzy acoustic guitar instrumentals, and even Terry started to wonder what the boy was up to. But before the crowd’s confusion could turn to rancor, Luke teased them with a bit of rockabilly. Terry grinned, realizing that Luke had things in hand. Luke lapsed back into blues for a few songs, coz it’s what he knew best. Then he threw in a little folk music, a little bluegrass, a couple hobo songs... The crowd’s curiosity turned into excitement, as they felt him gradually shading closer and closer to what they knew must be coming. Finally, there it was, Country Music! Luke played some Hank Williams songs, and a couple by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and a swell tune called “Cowboy Logic” which Terry really liked. Though Luke was now out of country music to play, after getting the crowd on his side he was able to get away with filling out the rest of the set with a couple rowdy drinking songs he had learned back home in Hun-Country (assuming ‘Michael Finnegan’ counts as a drinking song), and then swung suddenly from those into one last hymn. That capped a fun and interesting night for the patrons, who left en masse promptly at 9 o’clock, just as Terry had predicted.
Far from getting set upon by an angry crowd, Luke found he had even made a little bit of money in tips! (but not much because they were all farmers, so they didn’t have much.)
As they did the dishes and mopped the floor, Luke accused, relieved, “You kind of threw me in unprepared. I’m glad it came off okay.”
“We’re never as prepared as we would like,” Terry noted. “Sometimes you hafta try anyway. I knew you could do it.” Then added, “Meanwhile, you gave my customers an interesting new experience. We learn from diversity, after all.”
“I thought we learned from University,” Luke bantered.
“Not these people,” Terry said fondly of his laboring friends. Then he pointed out something to Luke: “They’re not the only ones who gained something tonight, you know. You got to practice decision-making, responsibility, courage, and confidence... good habits to have. Who knows, they may even come in useful someday,” Terry winked knowingly, secretly sizing him up as a son-in-law.
They closed up the bar and walked up a dirt road in the dark, to a little farm on a little hill on the east end of the little town. Luke slept in the barn.
He slept great.