He was seated in his favorite place. The corner stool. He could see who came and went. One foot rested on the floor, the other on the rung of the bar stool; his elbow planted on the bar supported the relaxed body. His eyes held a far away look.

I walked over and sat down. “Hey, Nick.”

His piercing eyes locked on mine. His head turned, a gnarled finger raised in salute to a new drink. The barman came over with his usual.

“Ahhh alcohol… the great giant killer.”

His eyes returned to mine. “Who was the meanest man you ever met?”

“Mine wasn’t a man, it’s a woman.”

“Women can be mean,” he said. “Sometimes vicious…” His great booming voice trembled. “Tell me about her.”

“I ran across her down south. One of those little bars. Not like Harry’s here. Jane’s Place they called it.”

“I was seated at the bar when the door crashed open. A thundering explosion. Everyone turned to face the sound.”

“Jane stood in the door. A great butcher knife in her left hand. A terrible knife. You could skin an elephant in two strokes with that knife. Her right hand held a gelding grip on a tall bony man dressed in his drawers.

“’Get over there and get to work,’ she yelled. ‘Anybody well enough to do what you did, is well enough to work.’

“He scooted behind the bar. She sat down and plunged the point of the knife deep in the liquor-polished wood and then turned to look us over. ‘Well boys, you know this old man’s been real sick. Or at least that’s what he claims. But today I went over to check on him at supper time, and what do you think I found? Him and that nurse I hired in bed. Grabbed him mid-performance. There we were the four of us in that bed; him and his nurse, me and my butcher knife. Told that nurse if she said one damn word I’d cut her throat. Told him if he said one word, he would lose interest in a hell of a lot of things. Guess he understood. He ain’t said a word since.’”

Nick is laughing, “You saw all this?” he asks.

“Yep, had a ringside seat. Found out later he was considered a mean man. He was from the mountains, but then so was she, but that day he was as meek as a lamb being led to slaughter. Worked until closing time without uttering a single word all night.”

Nick laughed his booming laugh. “That was too good. You’d never see that scene in Harry’s Bar would you?”

The gnarled finger signaled the bartender. His eyes had a distant look, perhaps remembering a past time or place; his callused hand stroked his splendid beard.