Earthborne

5

   Since Julia's encounter, Mark assigned himself a small duty to ask his customers and keep an eye out for the missing pooch for the next three weeks. So far, there have been no tips or whereabouts of poor Rosie... until one lucky couple passed by the bar. Mark guessed them to be boyfriend and girlfriend, and suddenly his smile stiffened when they came cackling to the bar.

   The boyfriend looked as if he came straight from the land of the frat boys: bleached, sweaty hair, tanned skin, and a tank top praising some "relatable" quote about the ocean. His girlfriend appeared to be more tamer than her mate's boisterous appearance, but in a bright, polka-dotted bikini and pink lipgloss, she was the perfect partner-in-crime... at least for him. Mark walked by the two, "Hey guys, what can I get you?" 

   The boyfriend squinted at the wooden board hanging above behind Nick's head, "Hmm, I'll have a citrus margarita for the lovely lady," he said, which caused his girlfriend to chortle, "and just hit me up with cold rum."

   "Alright, coming right up." But as soon as Mark turned around, the boyfriend broke into his train of thought. 

   "Um, nevermind, forget the rum, is there beer here?!" he spouted. 

   Mark forced a half-smile and quickly returned his attention, "Sorry, we don't serve beer here." 

   "Whaaat, that's insane! I mean, I think a beer would be a really swell option in this heat, right?" He shot the question at his girlfriend. 

   "Like, yeah!" She chimed in, nodding along. 

   Mark raised a hand to calm them down, "Look, if you want beer you can visit the restaurants and bars at Cove Corner." 

   The boy sighed, "Alright, alright, the rum it is, mate." Crazy kids, Mark thought as he smiled and returned to making their drinks. After a few minutes, Mark passed the beverages to the couple, "Here you two are," and after he received the money from the girl, he quickly asked, "you kids have seen a dog around here?" 

   "Actually, hmm... I think I may have, " His eyes stared beyond Mark's shoulder, searching through his mind of any images of the dog he might have kept, "last night, my girlfriend and I were walking to our car from our night-out at the beach when all of a sudden, I hear a bark in the distance behind me. The thing is, I saw no dog but I'm pretty sure that the dog must've been nearby since the dog barked, you know, and since dogs bark, there is no doubt that I heard a dog, so yeah man, I acknowledged a four-legged pooch last night." After the rambling parrot ended his chatter, Mark finally received the chance to blink his dry eyeballs.

   Mark still kept a straight face and tried to hide his true feelings, "Okay, so um, the missing dog must've been seen very recently. Ok thanks." 

   Huh, the kinds of people you meet here, Mark thought as he cashed in the money in the register. Am I really getting old already?

~~~

   When Nina came home that afternoon, she spotted Mark in front of the turned-off television reading a newspaper, "Mark, I haven't seen you read paper news for so long!" 

   "Yeah, funny story is, I'm not reading for the news, I'm trying to find some new job ads in the local area." Nick chuckled, closing the paper and laying it on his lap. 

   "But... don't you like working at the bar?" Nina asked. She walked to the pale green sofa and sat beside her husband. Her work clothes smelled of fresh chocolate and confectionery sugar. Since she was a baker, Nick always thought her iris color resembled honey.

   "I do, but I feel like I want to see what other opportunities there are besides working at the beach bar, you know? I always get this feeling that I'm meant for something bigger than this."