She was sucking on a red lollipop quite loudly and would constantly take it out of her mouth to stir her whiskey with it
She wore round sunglasses a crimson bandanna her hair in thin dreads and all her shirts were sleeveless
She took the lollipop out one more time and pointed it at him across the table
“You want some?” she asked
“Um, no thanks. I, uh, stay away from sweets.”
She dipped the lollipop back into the glass and stirred a bit then put it back in her mouth
“Good for you. I’m not too fond of these either. Just use ’em to help me break the smoking habit. It’s been working lately.”
She picked up the glass and took a sip of the lollipop-flavored whiskey
“Anyway, like I said, I brought you to my place to read your tarot cards.”
She pulled the deck out from under the table and began shuffling it intently
“If all’s good, there’ll be a second date and perhaps even more. It all depends on you.”
Just then, her dog barged into the room, a fat pit bull wagging its stubby tail and sniffing around the guest
It then ambled to her side and she took the lollipop and placed it between the dog’s jaws
She shuffled some more very focused on what she was doing and when all was ready she took the lollipop from the dog’s mouth and resumed sucking on it with loud slurping sounds
“So, you ready?” she asked
He watched her, gulped, and scratched his head
“Um… yeah, totally. This is, uh… like poker, right?”
quite a few times she had to ask him why he was so shy
He thought it was just normal to be shy on a first date no matter how many other dates you've been on with other girls
He was afraid of getting too deep into relationships, mainly because girls didn't like guys who still lived with their parents
He lived with his father who worked as a butcher His clothes were always stained by blood and smelled of salt and iron but worst of all was that he was drunk more often than not
About thirty minutes into the date his phone rang and he excused himself to answer. It was his father
"Listen buddy. I kinda need your help."
"Dad, I kinda need you to understand that I can't save your ass every time you get in trouble thanks to your drinking. I'm busy right now."
"Oh? Too busy to help your old man?"
"Bye."
"No, no, no, wait! Listen. It's just a simple thing this time. You just have to tell the police that your father is a butcher and that the eyeball they found in his rectum belongs to a pig and not a human being, okay?"
"Dad, what the fuck?"
"Please!"
He hung up walked back to the table sat down smiled
"Problems?" his date asked.
"No, no. My father asked for a ride. I told him I can't right now. It's okay though. Nothing urgent or important."
"Father, huh? Must be nice having one."
"Oh, you don't…?"
She smiled. "Nevermind that. But anyway, speaking of fathers, you think you'll be a good one?"
"Huh?"
"Cuz I surely won't be the best mother. See, I just found out days ago that my ex-boyfriend got me pregnant. You think you'll be a good daddy?"
"It's not that it was the worst but it was very bad," the old man said. "I wasn't hanging but the noose was so thick around my frail neck. I was nine. And the forest was dark. Night. And holding me, they made my old man dig a deep hole. He did as they said to buy my freedom. They untied me then and put the rope around my old man's arms and legs and threw him in the hole and covered him up with dirt. They didn't make me watch. But I did. I wanted to photograph their faces with my eyes to burn their smirks under my eyelids. Well, the saddest thing about it all is that they died, all of them were caught and condemned to death before I was old enough or strong enough to hunt down and kill them myself. The greatest regret of my life. The world, you see, has no true justice It never had. You see, young man, that's why I can never be a child of God. He wants us all to forgive. I can't. Don't want. Will not. Ever. So instead of going to church I pass out in bars like this one. It's been my favorite lately And you're my only friend, young man. You're the only one weird enough to listen to this old, demented fool's stories."
"I'll always listen," I said. "Here, how about another drink?"
"Another drink, sure. Thanks. But I'm afraid you won't be listening to these stories for long. I'm going away, young man."
"Where?"
"Well, to court first and then definitely to prison."
"To prison at your age? What did you do?"
The old man smiled a toothless smile. "Old as I am, I used to have front teeth, you know? Well, the reason I no longer have them... I bit a child's ear off. It was his face. It reminded me of them. Belonged to the same race. So I figured... you know, maybe he was one of their descendants. It was the least I could do. All I could do... I told you I'm crazy. I told everyone."
Daydreaming as a profession 