Bit 4
The City Scape Bar and Grill had been a fixture
The City Scape Bar and
Grill had been a fixture in Promisetown for years before
Cynthia Wiles Hemingway arrived during the late
seventies. Located right dump in the middle of town, on
Mercantile Street, the sounds of boisterous laughter and
convivial conversation could always be heard spilling out
on to the sidewalk. The place, which attracted equal part
tourist and locals, served as an oasis for any poor souls
requiring a rest from the wearying effects of just about
any day.
The
people who regularly frequented the City Scape were an
eclectic hodgepodge, characters who made the bar and
restaurant (but mostly the bar) their residence away from
home. And for many of them the place and its fixtures
served as a replacement for the families they'd never
had. So much so, in fact, that for many of them the walls
inside the bar were the only things they saw of the world
from day to day. Except, perhaps, for the giant Banyan
tree that stood directly outside the bar and grill's front
door, it's aerial roots threatening passersby and
miscellaneous revelers who may have had too much to drink.
In her
earlier days in town, Cynthia had worked as a cocktail
waitress in the front room of the City Scape. It was
there that she got her ideas for many of the disturbed
individuals that she hoped to later write about. Over
time, she'd watched these interesting people turn, before
her eyes, from friends into monsters. So for her, the
local color became hideous to observe -- and the folks who
visited town from off the fiord became freaks who had no
better places in the world to visit.
Still,
Cynthia had to admit that The City Scape Bar and Grill had
provided a great deal of fodder for her writing. Whether
it was the bar's owner, Jack the Bump, or any of the
numerous barkeeps he managed to hang on to, they all gave
Cynthia reams of potential material to write about. In
fact, the folks who worked and played out a good portion
of their lives there were far more interesting than the
clientele. And they, the staff, probably constituted at
least 30 percent of the bar's actual business.
Cynthia's
favorite bartender was a former drag celebrity from New
York City known as Miss Ruby Less Begonia. When she'd
first met Miss Less (or Ruby for short), the bartender
immediately captivated Cynthia by planting a light kiss on
her outstretched hand. "Charmed," he'd told her, "I'm
sure." Cynthia, who was both new in town and just a bit
shy, giggled. Miss Less then took Cynthia's drink order
and went about the business of polishing bottles on the
bar.
At the
time, Cynthia did not know anything about Ruby's
spectacular past – and probably would have been totally
baffled by it. For, you see, except for the tips about
drag he sporadically sent to the local newspapers, Ruby
did not advertise his history – well, not while he was
sober, anyway. With his gray hair, stooped shoulders, and
lined face, Ruby looked like someone's grandfather behind
the bar. It was only after he got a little tipsy, usually
by one in the afternoon, that Ruby's gregarious
she-persona stepped boldly to the plate.
Had Cynthia first met Ruby
Less Begonia a bit later in the day, she would have been
regaled with stories about the New York nightlife and the
golden olden days of the truly great performers.
Instead, Cynthia was given the other Miss Ruby, and
she'd never even thought to ask the bartender his name.
Next: Bit 5
One man's ceiling
