Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A-C
    • D-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z
  • Submissions
    • 100-Word Submissions
    • 500-Word Submissions
    • Poetry Submissions
    • Technical Help
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction
    • Terms & Conditions
    • GDPR Compliance

Dropping the "B", by James A. Tweedie

21/2/2021

5 Comments

 
FOOD, SPORT
“Give it up, Duane. Whatever happened, happened thirty years ago. Get over it. So, you dropped it! Big deal. It wasn’t the end of the world.”

The men had finished their drinks thirty minutes earlier but the older of the two wasn’t ready to go home—or ready to go anywhere else, for that matter. The man who first coined the phrase, “crying in your beer,” must have had Duane Williams in mind when he came up with it.

It was Tito Maldonado’s first visit to the tavern and he had spent the better part of the evening listening to Duane’s sob story and trying to cheer him up. Now, five minutes before the bar closed for the night, he had to admit defeat. Cheerfulness had not been attained.

“Like I said, it wasn’t the end of the world,” Tito repeated.

Duane ignored the remark and, with real tears in his eyes, whimpered, “They trusted me and I let them down . . . I had it in my hands . . . and the worst part came later, when people said I dropped it on purpose and that I was paid to do it.”

He looked Tito in the eyes.

“You don’t believe that, do you?” he asked, as if he was a condemned man begging to be pardoned for a crime he hadn’t committed.

“No,” Tito answered, more out of empathy than from sincerity. “I don’t think you did it on purpose. And besides, it’s only a game.”

In an flash, the tears in Duane’s eyes were replaced with fire.

“A what?” he shouted “A what?”

“A game,” Tito shouted back in the tone of voice he usually reserved for deaf people. “Football . . . it’s a game . . . it’s just a game!”

Duane stood up, clenched his fists and growled, “What the hell are you talking about? It wasn’t football!”

Tito slipped off his stool and took two steps backwards towards the nearest exit.

“Okay, okay!” he stammered. “So, I was wrong. It wasn’t football. . .”

Duane took a long, slow, deep breath, looked towards the bartender and said, “’G’night, Ted. See you tomorrow.”

Without another word, he turned and walked out the front door.

A bewildered Tito turned towards Ted.

“What happened to Duane? If it wasn’t a football, what did he drop?”

“Thirty years ago, when he was a waiter at the Four Seasons in New York, he knocked a bottle of vintage wine off a table. He tried to catch it before it hit the floor but it slipped through his hands. It was worth $100,000.”

“And he’s been haunted by it ever since?”

“That’s what he says. They fired him and, to be honest, I wouldn’t hire him, either.”

“Why? Because you’re afraid he’ll drop a bottle of beer?”

“No. Because no one he talks to ever comes back.”

Tito turned and headed towards the door.

“You got that right,” he said.
5 Comments
Pamela Kennedy
21/2/2021 11:54:52 am

Ouch! $100,000! most of all, poor Tito, poor Ted...Good story, James.

Reply
James A. Tweedie
21/2/2021 02:38:59 pm

The story is based on an actual incident at the Four Seasons involving a bottle of wine once owned by Thomas Jefferson insured for $250,000.

Reply
Jim link
21/2/2021 04:11:59 pm

Funny how some folks can't seem to forget something in their past, while others can't let it go fast enough.

Nice
Enjoyed the little background to the story as well.
Take care
Jim

Reply
Sue Clayton
22/2/2021 01:14:06 am

What a sad tale he continues to tell. He definitely wasn't a winner in this game of bad luck. Hope it wasn't a waiter that smashed Thomas Jefferson's bottle.

Reply
Mary Wallace
23/2/2021 06:00:54 am

Drops a bottle of wine and still whining thirty years later. 😊

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Longer
    Stories

    Longer Friday Flash Fiction Stories

    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we do not accept submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the Submissions Page.

    Stories to the 500 word thread will be posted as soon as we can mange.

    Picture

    One little further note. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too.
    ​Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36