Jeb and Ernie swaggered down the sidewalk. At this time of the day the Old City in Knoxville in bustling with shoppers and business folks. The two drunks looked like landlocked sailors unable to forget the sea. Jeb's legs wobbled and bent under the mass of Ernie. It had been a long time since Jeb was the stronger of the two. After about half an hour of stumbling a bar was finally in site.

Jeb almost shouted at the site of Blues, another of Jeb's favorite hangouts. "Here we is Ernie drinks on...you. By the way how much green you got."
Ernie was slurring. "Got paid yesterday...twenty...thirty dollars."
"that's good whites, real good. Now you go in there and get us a couple shots of red eye. Make sure it's not that clear shit. brown lick-her all the way my man, lick-her all the way."

Blues was one of those places that was a perennial of shades. The owner Lou Jacks liked the darkness. He felt it made his customers feel more at home. Lou also felt that windows were a distraction to the professional drunk. Blues was unlike any other bar in the Old City. It caterers to dead people. Several men had taken their last drink in Blues. And It was said that more men had drown in blues then had died in all of Knoxville's surrounding lakes.

Jeb liked the romance of Blues. Sometimes on Friday nights he would come down to this bar and play his worn out guitar. Lou always paid Jeb in alcohol and Jeb always packed the house with his "been down so Goddamn long that it looks like up to me" blues. The crowd would wail and shout...Jeb always played until he was his throat burned with whisky and song. Late in the night Jeb sounded more like a crow than a man.

It was still mid-morning when Ernie and Jeb ambled into the Blues. The bar was empty.

"Just the way I like it big E. Barren as my belly."

"Lou how about a round of Jimmy Beany. Me and Jeb got a powerful thirst."

One round. Two rounds. Three rounds. Four rounds. Five rounds. Six rounds.
"Jeb I'm broke ol pal"

"What you looking at me for. You...yous know damn well I anit' got and dime."

Crash! From outside of Blues there was the sound of two cars slamming steel on steel. "Mother of Shit...what the Hell?" Jeb jumped off the bar stool, fell face first into the concrete, cussed, spit, and then stumbled out into the street. Just in front of Blues two cars were sitting smashed. Something that looked like oil was leaking from one of the autos. A man and woman were standing outside of the cars tense with anger. Jeb did not waste any time. He walked straight up to the prudish looking woman in tight clothes.
"Damn lady, somebody shit the can. Man oh man what a mess. Real sorry to see that real sorry to see that. Tell you what, give me a couple bucks and I will run down the street and get the police.

"They are already on the way. But, here is a twenty go get a bath."

"Yes mama, I surely will."

With that Jeb winked at the man across the wrangled cars. "And you have and fine day too...Whitie."Jeb winked, crossed the road, and entered the bar in full swing. "Big E this rounds on me"

Jeb

Muse