The Montgomery House

Two

Following Scott through the front door, Jackson emerged into a dimly lit room, three tables and a large mahogany bar which stretched across the length of the opposite side of the room and completed the space.

Feeling slightly claustrophobic, Jackson shook off his wet umbrella and wet coat, hanging them to dry on the rusty pegs provided beside the front door he surveyed the room. Locating Scott he moved to take a seat beside him at the bar.

The bartender a squat mole-like man was drafting a couple of pints when he sat down. Looking around the room at the handful of patrons squashed together around the mismatched tables, Jackson couldn't help but wonder how much trade a place of this size made.

"We do alright tah" quipped the bartender, interrupting Jackson's thoughts.

"I'm sorry?.." asked Jackson a bit confused.

"The bar" snapped the bartender. "We make enough to pay the keep the lights on."

"God. did I say that out loud?" baulked Jackson, hoping the ground would open up and swallow him at the look the bartender was giving him.

Caring little for his type, the bartender opening glared at him as he slammed his pint down on the bar in front of him, before moving off along the bar to tend to a customer, muttering what Jackson had no doubt were several obscenities aimed in his direction.

Averting his eyes from the animosity aimed at him from the other end of the bar, Jackson looked sheepishly at Scott as he sat glowering at him with a disapproving look.

Sighing he squirmed uncomfortably under his friend's reproachful glare, exhausted from the last couple of days, Jackson took a long pull of his pint before setting it back down and glowering back at his oldest friend.

"What?!... " He snapped. "It's not like I meant to say it out loud..."

Shaking his head with a mixture of pity and exasperation, Scott drained the contents of his glass before pushing himself away from the bar and standing up.

Surprised by the sudden movement, Jackson looked around at the figure now pulling on his coat.

"Hey!... Where are you going?"

Scott stopped zipping up his coat and took a long look at the man who had once been the closest thing to a brother he'd ever had. Saddened by the longing and desperate hope of rekindling that brotherhood he'd experienced the moment he'd seen him looking lost in the rain, he sighed.

"You haven't changed a bit have you?..." He started. "I'd hoped... no forget it... it was nice seeing you again Jack." He said sadly, his lips flattened into an angry line as he swallowed whatever grievances he'd been about to air.

"Jimmy" He called over to the bartender, nodding in farewell when he turned to face him. He slipped out the door.

Taken aback by his friend's sudden exit, he sat stunned gaping at the door when the bartender sauntered over. Swivelling around on his bar stool, Jackson met the grim expression of the man Scott had called Jimmy.

"I've had a really bad day, can't we just forget it?" He pleaded as he looked into his pock-marked face.

Smirking at what he considered to be the posh boy sat taking up room at his bar, Jimmy crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Now that your friend is gone" He announced loudly, his heavy northern accent, capturing the attention of the remaining patrons currently warming the bar stools. "You'd better drink up and piss off yourself."

Sighing, Jackson drained what remained of his pint. Slapping a generous £20 down into the puddle that Jimmy had made earlier when he slammed his drink on the bar, Jackson pulled himself up off his stool and moved off towards the exit.