Harry "Shagman" Philips

A short story I thought I'd try out.

Harry “Shagman” Philips                                                                                  818 Words

 

I felt the smoke enter my lunges, calming my body. I blew the smoke out and took a bite of the burger on my plate. It was greasy and the meat was well cooked, tasting just as good as it did 23 years ago when this place opened. The homemade fries were a little burnt, but I liked them that way. It was Friday night, and I was at a bar called The Black Bull.  I was sitting by the table, listening to a younger lady singing a boy band song I didn’t know that well. Of course, it was karaoke night. It was always karaoke night, which was how they got so many customers at the bar. Everyone wants to have a good meal, a better beer, and some music. This place was just that. It smelled like dust, burger meat, tobacco smoke, and beer. I really loved the place. It was packed, but I didn’t see anyone I knew, other than the man I came here with. My brother Harry was to my left, enjoying his Keith’s. I thought I’d take him for a beer, since I’d be getting married soon and probably wouldn’t get to see him as often as before, Emma and I were going to have a kid, and he wasn’t exactly liked by Emma, my fiancé. After all, this was the same guy who thought mom and dad were watching us a ghosts after death, and was rather promiscuous. “You gonna finish that Seth?” Harry gestured at my half-empty beer glass. “You know you still have to drop me off at home right? I could easily finish that for you. Unless you want me to drive, but you probably wouldn’t trust someone crazy like me with your BMW right?” Harry was only half joking, I didn’t trust him, and he knew that. “No, you’re right. I’ll drive.” Harry grabbed my glass and dumped the beer into his glass, which wasn’t quite finished, or the same beer. “You wanna play some pool? Ten bucks says I’ll kick you to the curb.” Harry bargained. Knowing his skills at the pool table, I still took the bait. “Sure, but 20 says you won’t try bringing a girl from this bar home with you, in my car,” I replied. Just like Harry, I was only half joking. Harry was a known ladies’ man, and he’d had his fair share of women. He wasn’t exactly husband material, any girl could see that, but he did have a charm to him. You never truly knew what he was thinking, but it was usually something immature, or woman. When we were younger people called him the Shagman. The name stuck, some of his friends still called him that instead of Harry. I try not to associate with those people. As we played pool, I saw that he was giving his special treatment to the girl who had been singing karaoke earlier. I could also see that I had no chance in hell at beating him in pool. After he beat me in pool, he and the girl, Teresa went out for a romantic walk in the dark of the night. We live off in the mountains in BC, in Nelson. She said she wasn’t from around here, so I suppose the least he could do was show her around before they did anything else. After I finished up eating and treated myself to a vanilla caramel sundae as a reward, payed for both of us, and decided to wait for them in the car. Where I smoked a Rooftops with the windows down. The smoke got me back to thinking about when Harry and I were growing up in Victoria as kids, right after mom and dad broke up. He was the same way then as he was now. Always doing what he wanted, carefree, and careless. Of course back then it didn’t matter much, I was a teenager, and he was 22, and he was always there for me. These days it’s a problem. He never really grew up, but looking back on it, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. When Dad tried to send me away to live with mom in Toronto, he stayed loyal and backed me up. Convinced him to let me stay. And on my 19^th birthday, he was the one buying the drinks. He may have his faults, but there’s no way anyone but him could be my best man. I had made my decision. He and Teresa came back, and I drove them home to dad’s old place. This habit I hoped he would drop, I kinda always wanted him to just settle down and have a family. But Harry never changes, and he sure as hell wouldn’t change now. I could live with that I guess. But he never did pay me back that 10 dollars.

Author's Note

First full short story in a long time. I hope you like it!

I very seldom reply to reviews, but I promise I read EVERY single one. I look forward to my next review, because it helps me learn. Even if it's just one word, I promise, I will be ecstatic to have the chance to hear what you have to say. Whenever you write something about my poems, or the themes of my poems, or criticize me it is not in vain. I will listen, learn and be thankful.

Reviews

[Najam Us Saher]

Nice build up of characters. Keep going.

[wordman]

great story,i enjoyed it !