\u201cIt was drinking that did him in. Finally. I mean, towards the end he cleaned up, but it was way too late. Had the shakes. Couldn\u2019t light up a smoke,\u201d Benny wiggles his hands in front of his face. The girl from Sofia just stares at him. She isn\u2019t sure if he\u2019s the lead singer or the bassist or what. Robert Plant\u2019s hair on Iggy Pop\u2019s frame. Black leather vest. Crisp white Oxford button-down. Snakeskin jeans. She\u2019s not going to care what he does in the end. She\u2019s going to do some blow, and they\u2019ll fumble around, and she\u2019ll sneak onto the bus in the morning and Benny knows it and he\u2019s seen it too many times and he\u2019s looking at the black cherry in the bottom of the whiskey in his fist and thinking about Mesozoic centipedes.<\/p>\n
The last thing she said was \u201cI\u2019m from Sofia.\u201d She can\u2019t understand a fucking thing he says even though she learned English like everyone in her year. What Benny speaks is something else, something more pure. She can pick up a word here and there, but the whiskey just keeps digging holes into his vowels until it sounds more like he\u2019s moaning than explaining how some side musician drank himself out of work and the world is worse off because of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world is worse off because of it.\u201d He rolls the bottom of his glass around on the bar. \u201cThose riffs, those licks. Fuck. I listen to them records and that\u2019s what they done. That\u2019s why they\u2019re magic, better\u2019n any CD bullshit.\u201d He looks over at her. \u201cTrapped in amber. That\u2019s what it is, man. That\u2019s really them in there, in the vinyl. It\u2019s like,\u201d he puts his glass down so he can talk with both hands and he turns toward her on his stool. \u201cThe sound goes into the mics and through the wires into the master and goddam I mean, there\u2019s no real\u2014there\u2019s no real separation between things, you get what I\u2019m saying, right?\u201d \u00a0A wave of whiskey washes over him and he drifts for a second, lost in his head with the echoes of \u201cDeacon Blues.\u201d Her eyes are enormous. \u00a0Emerald planets in a perfect glass atmosphere. She blinks and stares into his rock star face.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the thing about boys in Sofia. They work in factories and smoke. They want to leave Moldova and move to America but none of them do. They keep working the line and smoking and soon enough they\u2019re middle-aged balding Europeans. She takes a discreet sip of her whiskey. She thinks about the men in her apartment block. Her Khrushchyovka. She was there earlier in the day, after her shift, ripping holes in her stockings with her girl Djara, leaning up against her uncle\u2019s shitty car by the sidewalk playing American music and smoking. Djara was going off about the band staying at the hotel on a Euro leg through Russia. \u201cSo much hair,\u201d Djara crimps a black Sobraine between her lips while she bends down to work a safety pin through her jeans.\u00a0 A long line of men shuffles out past the guard shack in their overalls and dirty shirts. She dips the tip of her cigarette into a blue flame, leans back to hustle a drag and blows smoke into the sky over the factory. It sits up against old apartments like a mountain, with their window sills all black from air conditioner drip. She glances over into her brother\u2019s worn-out face with preorbitals like filthy moons under his eyes and she decides to quit, fuck a rock star, and move to America.<\/p>\n
Benny touches her on the leg, just points his finger right through the fishnet. \u201cTake Carlton and Ritenour. These guys made Fagen. Carlton made Joni Mitchel. Listen to that fucking 335. I mean, you can barely hear it on Robbery because fucking Robbie Roberson is all wailing and messy but right underneath him, there\u2019s Larry fucking Carlton building the foundation. Goddam\u2013Aja was the shit.\u201d He sniffs his whiskey. \u201cThe sound cuts right into the wax so that connection is, it\u2019s there, it\u2019s like he was touching the record himself. Like he played the music right into the grooves and so get this…” he takes her glass from her hand, puts it on the bar. \u201c…so, get this. When we play that music? When we hear that music?\u201d His hands drift apart, and his eyes lose a little focus, and he floats up into the rafters and she knows this is important even though she doesn\u2019t understand a third of what he\u2019s saying. Something about Steely Dan. But she knows when a guy is having a moment, and she knows she has to move. He might fade back into his own shit and she\u2019ll lose him. She grabs the glasses, fills his paw with the bourbon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe toast.\u201d<\/p>\n
He grins. \u201cFuck diddly damn. We toast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here is how it\u2019s going to happen. She\u2019s going to slip off her stool to reach for her purse which she\u2019s been discreetly pushing further and further around Benny\u2019s elbow, and she\u2019ll lean into him a just a little, just for the curvature to click, then as she\u2019s pulling back away from him she\u2019ll glance up into his eyes and do this move she stole from Meg Ryan where it\u2019s like she gets caught in his regard. Totally forgets what she was doing. Either he\u2019ll break magnanimous and hand her purse to her but not really let go of it with a fatherly look on his face, a classy overture. Subtle. Solid. Or he\u2019ll break bold and snake an arm around her back and plant one on her shiny black lips.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddam you\u2019d love Louisville.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBernhard!\u201d<\/p>\n
A tan suit full of five foot of nothing shoves itself between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFucking bands. I swear to God I\u2019m going into real estate oh excuse me,\u201d he hip checks her as he humps the bar waving a twenty, American. The bartender just stares with his arms crossed. His shift ended two hours back. Goddam rock stars. \u201cGoddam Podunk\u2013hey, dude, hey.\u201d The bartender raises an eyebrow. \u201cTNT. Por favor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve.\u201d Benny says this guy\u2019s name like a machine shutting down for the day. The velvet fog of Becker and Fagen hanging in the air blows away and Benny turns his entire body into a bass clef hunched over a glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cWot the fock!\u201d She manhandles the suit away from the bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cNope.\u201d The suit holds up a radio. \u201cNope. Fuck off or I call a badge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuck. Security will shake her down for cash and she\u2019s holding a sizeable wad in the hopes her plan to smuggle her Russian ass into the USA in the underwear of an American rock star works. The suit reads her like a book. He waggles the stiff rubber antennae at her. \u201cRight. Ok. You think Benny is in the band.\u201d He holds the radio a little higher, pops the transmitter twice with his thumb. There\u2019s a rough bark of static from Benny\u2019s hip. Benny reaches down and twists the squelch knob till the static chokes out. She catches his eyes in the mirror, but he looks down into his glass.<\/p>\n
Steve opens a bag of bullshit onto Benny and the girl from Sofia and the music and the rest of the room disappear.<\/p>\n
She turns proper to the bar. She crosses her legs. She kills her whiskey, lays a ten spot down in front of her empty glass. Never even looks at the bartender but magically, the glass is full when she picks it up and knocks it back. Smuggling herself into America is getting expensive. Worse thing is, she actually likes Benny. Doesn\u2019t give a shit if he\u2019s not in the band. So, he\u2019s security. What the fuck. He\u2019s all access. The suit kills his TNT, racks his tumbler on the bar, wiggles it at the bartender, and keeps talking.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2013who the fuck\u2019s gonna front for that shit? And so now I have to pay the cop who was watching the bus while it got siphoned by\u2013I will guarantee you\u2013another cop. And I\u2019ll have to pay for the diesel at two and a quarter over because who the fuck is going to deliver diesel? We got enough to make the end of the parking lot if we\u2019re lucky. And where are you this whole fucking nightmare? Trying to fuck Suzi and the Greencards here while I\u2019m handling it. This whole fucking place,\u201d the suit swings his empty gin glass up and around to generally blame the whole of Moldova. \u201cWe might as well be in Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n
She can\u2019t really see Benny now because the Suit\u2019s got a paunch and he\u2019s leaned backwards against the bar under a light, but she sees Benny\u2019s meaty finger very quietly push a sawbuck toward the bar mats and the barkeep glides over with a bottle of Old Overholt. As he\u2019s pouring, Benny slides the ten spot over to tap her empty glass and the bartender over pours and winks at her. She tilts her glass at Benny, catching his eyes in the mirror behind the bar. Benny knocks back his bolt of rye. She does the same. She\u2019s still gonna hustle him for a visa but now that she knows this asshat is his boss she\u2019s getting all Solidarno?? The bartender fills them up again. Benny is smiling grimly at her, listening to the drone. She tilts her glass and says, \u201cSteely Dan,\u201d quietly. Benny says it back into the mirror.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2013and then he\u2013what? Steely Dan? Fucking fern bar musak bullshit.\u201d Steve hustles his balls through his cheap slacks. \u201cHasn\u2019t been a decent song in America since Muskrat Love,\u201d and he just keeps going. Benny drops his face into his hand. Rubs his brow with all the weight of the rest of the tour with this shit horned fuck weasel standing on his last nerve when two absolutely stunning women walk up to the bar in identical Prada dresses with their red clutches and high contrast makeup and the girl from Sofia sings very quietly:<\/p>\n
\u201cBabylon sisters…\u201d and Benny fills it in, \u201cshake it…\u201d and she do do do da da das her way through the bridge then he belts it out in a passable ersatz Fagen \u201cSo fine so young,\u201d and she drops right behind him with \u201c…tell me I\u2019m the only one,\u201d and holds it and the bartender is pouring vodka martinis for the Prada twins and he smiles so broadly the two women laugh and she and Benny start singing loud to drown out the Suit until he gives up and stares at them as they finish Aja and she and Benny lock eyes for a beat and the suit sucks in air to start up again so she plants her hands on the edge of the bar and she doubles down and belts out \u201cWorry the bottle mama, it\u2019s grapefruit wiiiine\u201d with a whiskey snarl and Benny backs her up and then the Babylon sisters lean into them and all four scream sing their way through the chorus while the suit crosses his arms and puckers. They finish and Steve doesn\u2019t look up or anything and it\u2019s like the whole bar shut up for a second then he opens his mouth and she and Benny sing out \u201cEffff Emmm\u201d like they\u2019d planned it, but they can\u2019t finish because everyone in the bar laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine, whatever. Just do me a solid and talk to the fucking fixer about the gas.\u201d He glances at her. \u201cYou can blow him later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benny stands up off his stool. It\u2019s unhurried and liquid and just without any drama he\u2019s looming over the suit who shuts up mid word. Benny hands her her purse but he doesn\u2019t really let go of it. He looks down at the suit with a face full of disappointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer name is Sofia, Steve, and you\u2019ll tell her you\u2019re sorry and you\u2019ll comp her for a bottle and you\u2019ll relieve her of your company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m your fucking boss!\u201d<\/p>\n
Benny slips the radio off his belt and lays it on the bar. He nods to the bartender who is already sliding a bottle of rye across the oak bar. Benny looks at her with a Kentucky sunrise in his eyes and let\u2019s go of her purse. They walk off through the lobby bar, Benny\u2019s arm around her waist, bottle of rye at his hip. Never looked back.<\/p>\n
It says Malina Klimek on her visa, but he\u2019s called her Sofia ever since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She turns proper to the bar. Crosses her legs. Kills her whiskey, lays a ten spot down in front of her empty glass. Never even looks at the bartender but magically, the glass is full when she picks it up and knocks it back. Smuggling herself into America is getting expensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":22365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4090],"class_list":["post-21745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","tag-kentucky-roadmanager-alabama-steelydan-aja","writer-bull-garlington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21745"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22367,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21745\/revisions\/22367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}