Read Online THE COLLAPSE: Swantown Road by Frank Kaminski - Free Book Online Page A

get you your ass kicked.  But the two carried on, getting in each other’s face and over-emphasizing the words.  Yes, it was pretty embarrassing and pathetic in Tarra’s opinion, but for some reason she wanted to be over there, singing also and having fun with them in their own little world.  She needed to act fast.  It was getting later in the evening, and a few of the local skanks were making their grand, dramatic entrances into the bar, each one of them dressed as hoe-baggish as they possibly could.  With the amount of drinks that Tall-And-Tattooed and Hair Club had put down, it wouldn’t be long before they might just be out the door with a couple of those skanks.
    Tarra went into action.  Her overnight knapsack lied at her feet between the brass rail and the wooden planks of the bar.  She reached down and snatched it up, then hauled ass to the restroom. 
    First, she washed her face and put four drops of Visine in each eye, which would hopefully take effect before she was done in the bathroom.  She then used some disposable makeup remover wipes on her eyes and cheeks before applying a fresh coat and quickly brushed her long black hair with several long, smooth strokes.  She stood a few steps back from the dusty and scratched mirror and checked herself out; front, back and profile.  Her jeans were a bit loose, presumably from not eating much in the last few days, so she hiked them up to ensure her perfect bubble butt would display nicely and then safety-pinned the jeans tight, as best she could.
    After Tarra completed her hasty makeover and was back at the bar, she rounded up all the money she had left and counted it.  Nine dollars.  That was it.  Tarra had noticed that the two sailors were drinking bottles of Alaskan Amber.  Unfortunately for her, Amber was four dollars a bottle in Jessup’s bar.  Tarra squeezed the money tight in her fist, and sighed.  She decided to go ahead and use the very last of her cash to buy the sailors a drink. 
    That decision, however, would turn out to net her the biggest return on any investment she had ever made, in all her life. 
    Tarra waved down Jessup in between customers and called him over.  She was delighted to notice him do a double-take on her appearance, although he said nothing about it. 
    “Two bottles of Alaskan Amber, please.”  She shouted over all the noise.
    “You too, eh?”  Jessup said, cocking his head over at the sailors.
    “Yeah, me too.”  Tarra stated as she handed eight of the nine dollars to Jessup, and proudly slam-dunked the remaining dollar into his tip jar.  He winked at her, having no clue that she was officially dead broke.
    Tarra clutched the icy-cold bottles and contemplated taking a quick pull off one of them, just in case her plan didn’t pan out.  But she didn’t.  Instead, she gathered herself and confidently strolled over to the sailors’ table.  Hair Club was the first to see her coming and did a double-take on her, one quite similar to Jessup’s a few moments prior.  She waltzed right up to their table and laid an Amber at each of their places.  Both the guys were looking at her now, curiously.
    “I just want to thank you guys for that awesome rendition of Motley Crue earlier.”  Tarra laughed as she said to them over the loud crowd.
    Hair Club replied, “Thank you young lady, it is very much appreciated!  I’m surprised and also embarrassed that you took notice.”  He shyly picked up the bottle but didn’t drink it.  He was looking up at his buddy, almost as if to say, “Help!  Pretty girl alert!  I don’t know what the hell to do right now!  Save me!”
    Tall-and-Tattooed nodded at her and said, “Yeah, thanks dude.”  He grabbed his bottle by the neck and took a hefty pull off it as he cautiously eyed her up. 
    Dude?   She thought .  He called me ‘dude’.  What the fuck? I don’t think this is working, time to bail. Damnit!
    Tarra put on her most charming, innocent local girl act