Memories of Summer

[A Memory of Summer: Maggie]

In the middle of the roof is an old fan sitting. It had been sitting there for nearly forty years and is still spinning. Round and round and round. For years, people have come and gone through this pub, some laughing while others screaming. People always come to a pub for various reasons. They come from a fight, they come from work or they are just starting the night off with some friends.

But they all come for the same reason, to drink.

And drinks and alcohol was there no absence of here. Glasses could be heard being filled, sat down onto tables and clean for a new round of thrusting mouths. behind the counter is a big stock displayed as the two girls in tank tops walks from customer to customer to refill. The pub is the oldest in town but in the later years, it has gotten a lot of opponents. Sports Pubs, girls only Pubs, book Pubs, Pubs for cats... It seems like there are pubs for everything these days.

At the end of the pub, protected by the dim lighting in the far corner is a woman sitting. Her name is Maggie Collins and in front of her is her third glass of... well, it was a very complicated and long name which she has forgotten. But the main point is that it is strong, just what she wanted. A red straw is placed and a lonely cherry is floating without any intentions from Maggie to get eaten up.

The woman, with her dark hair hanging in long strands over her shoulders, you see has just come from "a night out with the girls." Except for the fact that there never were any girls and she has been sitting here for the last hours. Her husband John Collins is home with their children, Laura 12 and Oliver 9.

In the middle of the pub is a big table centered and a big group of people who seem to celebrate someone engagement is throwing a big party. According to Maggie, they are throwing a hell of a noise for a big nothing. A worn out newspaper is lying in front of Maggie and in one of the articles the headline reads: "Two Out of Three Marriages Ends In Divorce, Found Out Why!"

Maggie pushes the newspaper away from her and takes another sip from her drink. The liquid is burning the inside of her mouth, but the burn is nothing like the satisfying aftertaste. A man in a dark coat is making his way through the bar. An old clock on the wall shows that the time is a little after eleven. A chair which stood with a safety distance from Maggie so she wouldn't have to interact with anyone is scooted close to her.

The man doesn't look at her but orders a glass of whiskey. A girl in a tank top which is obviously showing more than it was intended to do comes smiling over at him. He doesn't respond to her smile and she hurries away from the now two people in the corner.

"Family trouble?"

Maggie slowly turns her head to watch the man that is clearly and visibly older than her. His hair is gray but in an attractive shade and even though he has some lines on his face his eyes look hungry.

"Depends on who is asking."

The man lets out a breath and takes a deep sip from his glass. The ice cubes in it swirl around as he puts the glass down again and lets out a noise which indicated the liquid burnt his throat.

"Doesn't it always?"

Maggie doesn't have a single idea about who this man is but there is something about the calmness in his voice that doesn't make her want to push him away.

"You can't talk to your parents about struggles at work because it was "obviously" harder for them. You can't talk to people who don't have a partner about trouble in your relationship because it always ends up with that you should break up with them. And you can't talk to your family about the want to be alone because god forbid you to need space from time to time."

There is a clear sarcasm in the man's voice, but at the same time what he is saying sounds very true in Maggie's ears. She gives a signal to the bartender to have her fourth glass filled.

"Cheers to the truest thing I have heard today."

The talk continues from there and as another hour goes by it doesn't feel like the man before Maggie is a stranger. Apparently, he is divorced and has a daughter who suddenly decided to get married to a man who lives on the other side of the world. What Maggie in her drunker state doesn't notice is how the man, minute for minute moves closer and what finally wakes Maggie is when a curl from her hair falls down and the man puts it behind her hair.

The pub is close to empty now as the big party has left and the words coming from the man in front of Maggie is clearly heard by her.

"What do you say we go home to me for a while and continue this talk?"

The man puts a hand on Maggie's leg and lets it wander without hesitation up her leg to rest on the inside of her thigh. Maggie laughs nervously because of the alcohol and playfully slaps the man's hand away from her.

"You are old enough to be my father, you know."

The words catch up with Maggie as soon as she has said them and when they do she feels a fright building up inside her. She takes her belongings and heads for the door and the fresh air waiting outside. Before the man, she talked to or the other people inside of the pub can notice she is already running.

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6th of April