Chapter 5 Father Lucas

When the girls were upstairs, Bernina was sitting on her couch reading one of her books like she always did on any particular evening. Even on the night before the fare, the amount of reading she did not seem to slow down that much. Except when she got the call of the dial phone. It was her husband Lucas. She walked into the kitchen, where the afternoon reflection from the window shined upon the wooden table. Bernina picked up the phone in order to answer it. “Who is this, how may I help you?” she said.

“Hey it’s boppy, I’m not going to be home till late tonight,” Lucas could hear the footsteps of his employer walking into the office. He suspected that he was probably going to ask why he was on the phone. “I have a few extra things that I need to do tonight. Will you save some dinner for me by nine’oclock?” The employer walked in, gave him a slightly cross look.

“Is there any particular reason why you can’t by home sooner?” Bernina said, Lucas couldn’t see it but she had began to become a huge red fireball, and steam was coming out of her nose. “Lucas --” she screamed, then was interrupted.

“Hey honey I got to go, employer wants to talk.” he hang up.

The employer looked like he must be around six foot seven, or maybe it was the large black boots that he was wearing that added to the sinister presence of his looming gait that was leaning forward. “Lucas, and why exact;y were you on the phone? That’s time that you could working the shift. Remember if you work hard tonight, I might be able to let you off early.

It was later that night that he got off work. He put up his uniform for the evening, and then began to walk toward the pub of which he would visit every few nights or so during the during the week. As he walked along the sidewalk, there were lots and lots of black cats. One of the cats that was there just about as often as Lucas, caused him to almost trip onto his hate. “God damn it, you stupid cat.” He got up, and then kicked the cat in the booty.

At the pub, he ordered himself a mud slide. Several of his friend that were observing him noticed that he was beginning to lean forward. One of his, his old buddy George, patted him on the shoulder in order to check to see how he was doing. “Sure you think you can handle one more? Me and are the others, well, we are thinking about leaving for the night.”

“I think I can use one more.” And so he did.

He then was cut off after the second glass, but last time after drinking about seven he was cut off because he tended to sometimes puke on the floor. At times the tender was tempted to him Lucas clean it up himself, but decided an ounce of prevention was worth many times a cure. “Safe travels Lucas, are you looking forward to the coming fare?”

“Why yes, I am lookin forward to the chocolate.”

As he walked him, it began to weigh heavily on his mind how he came nearly close to losing his job. His employer always threatened him with this, though it was only tonight that the employer said it with any amount of any particular force. “I just need to ease off the choc-voc.” he said, as he arrived at the gate of his family home. Then he knocked on the door.

Bernina opened the door. “Lucas! Your home. She hugged him, and then the girls greeted him at the door. And then soon they went and settled for bed.

After the girls had long sense settled for bed, his wife sat with him at the table. “Have you been drinking again, you smell like chocolate vodka.” But Lucas was to tired to answer, and simply slammed his face down on the wooden table. “I am a mop.”

“You’ve been drinking, yep.”