Takeaway by Jeremy Segrott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
We went to the Takeaway dive. You know the one. It’s out by the airport on Highway 80, just past the Teaneck Massage Parlor and the Golden Crab Casino. Mara wanted to stop and play some on-line poker, but we know she’s still paying off her last loss and we said no.
Merlin’s band played at the Takeaway last Fall, but when he lost his bass player they cancelled the gig. Still, he remembered how they had a fierce set of craft beers on tap at the Takeaway, and so he convinced us to go out there.
Well, what we didn’t know was Merlin was meeting his girlfriend. She was someone he met when he was playing the gig at the Takeaway last Fall; she was the piano player on the band’s off days. How he met her when they never overlapped, was a mystery. I guess he must have hung around in between his gig days, you never know.
She was striking, in a hipster-cum-boho way. She had the fringe vest and the bell-bottom jeans, and her hair was white-blue, in one of those asymmetrical bob cuts. She had black eyeliner eyes and ochre lipstick. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She played a set and then came over to sit with us at our horseshoe booth by the bar. “Hey, Cates,” Merlin said to her. “This is my crowd.” And then he introduced us.
“What’cha-all drinking?” she said. We went around, each with a different craft brew, said the names, and she nodded at each one. “Cool,” she said.
We all just sat there then. Merlin said, “We’ll be right back.”
By the time they got back, we were ready to go. She said, “Well, see ya,” and went back to her piano.
Merlin looked a flushed, like he’d been working out. We figured.
On the way out, Mara stopped at the Instant-Win Lottery machine by the washrooms and bought a ticket. It was the week of the mega Powerball lottery, so we let her.
In the car, I asked Merlin, “So what’s up with Cates?”
“I’m teaching her to play the bass,” he said. He grinned. “The band needs a new bass player.”
About this post: It’s hard to resist a takeaway.
