Free Straight No Chaser by Jack Batten

that’s Oregon too,” Ralph said, more to himself than to me.“All righty, now we’re getting warmer. San Francisco. Dave did excellent there. Palo Alto is Stanford University.” Ralph unclipped sheets of paper that looked like contracts.
    â€œHere we go,” he said, his voice louder. “Actual fact, it wasn’t in Los Angeles Dave played.”
    Ralph separated out one contract.
    â€œCulver City,” he said. “I guess that’s a Los Angeles neighbourhood or something, little town close by maybe.”
    â€œLike Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga.”
    â€œIt was the Alley Cat Bistro Dave worked at,” Ralph said. “How in the world could a man forget a name like that? Alley Cat Bistro in Culver City.”
    Ralph handed me the contract. It was four pages long. Most of it was in printed clauses, standard boilerplate stuff, but there were dates and money amounts typed in. I flipped to the last page. Whoever signed for the Alley Cat had an illegible hand, but the name was too long to be Raymond Fenk’s.
    Ralph said, “Dave thought the audiences were hep at this Alley Cat. Couldn’t have been a big place though, not according to what they paid.”
    â€œDid he play other jobs out there? A concert? Anything?”
    â€œNot in L.A.”
    â€œWhat about a movie soundtrack?”
    â€œA week at this Alley Cat and Dave flew straight home,” Ralph said. “He was a pretty excited guy.”
    â€œHow could you tell?”
    Ralph performed the grin that lit up Don Mills.
    â€œOh sure, Dave’s one for keeping the feelings to himself,” he said. “But anybody could see the week with Harp Manley had him real pleased.”
    â€œHe knew about that before he came back from the western tour?”
    â€œBefore he even went west,” Ralph said.“I had the contracts signed up first of May.”
    â€œSigned with whom? Manley’s people?”
    â€œWith everybody,” Ralph said. “Abner Chase booked Manley into his club, and his agency in New York, Manley’s agency, told Abner they needed another horn for Toronto. Abner asked if Dave was okay. Well, that needed backing and forthing because Manley had to give his personal stamp, which he did soon’s he heard it was Dave. So, Bob’s your uncle, the contract came from New York and Abner signed and I signed, and Dave felt real good about everything.”
    â€œUntil Raymond Fenk arrived on the scene.”
    I gave the Alley Cat contract back to Ralph. He aligned the orange files so that their corners were exact and placed them on the floor beside the Motolounger.
    Ralph said, “Where’s all this get us?”
    â€œNot far past square one.”
    â€œDon’t think I don’t appreciate your worry, Crang,” Ralph said. “But I’m just thinking Dave’ll walk in tomorrow, you know, sheepish, apologizing to all concerned. I’ll read him the riot act, count on it, and we’ll get back to business as usual.”
    No rum and Coke had passed Ralph’s lips. Maybe Doreen was the drinker in the household. I finished my glass and told Ralph I’d keep in touch. He stood under the porch light until I drove out of sight around one of Hiawatha’s curves.
    I chose a route home by way of Eglinton and North Toronto’s back streets. If someone I knew spotted me on the DVP, word might get out I was a closet suburbanite. It was ten-thirty, and I hadn’t eaten since Cam Charles’s spread. Falafel felt about right. I stopped at the Kensington Kitchen on Harbord and ordered a plate to go. Falafel, hummus, tabbouleh, and pita. The pita was whole-wheat.
    I ate the food and drank two glasses of Soave in front of the CITY-TV news. The sports guy’s sweater had more colours than a test pattern. He said the Blue Jays lost in the ninth and the Maple Leafs had a couple of promising defencemen. I switched off the set. When the Boston