Free The Elephant Tree by R. D. Ronald Page A

fitting black t-shirt with a shapeless blue and black checked shirt worn open over the top. It sometimes puzzled Scott how she could still look so feminine despite her sexless outer garments, but as she handed him the bottle of Heineken, there was no denying how good she looked.
    ‘How long left till you finish for the day?’
    ‘Another few hours.’
    A customer came up to the bar and Angela went to serve. Scott took a drink from his bottle as his thoughts returned to his brother and the conversation they’d had. He had intended to come out and see Twinkle to discuss whatever opportunity he had hinted at the night before, but after hearing what Jack had said he wasn’t sure it was now something he should do. He was out now though and Twinkle wasn’t usually hard to find so he figured he may as well hear what the old man had to say.
    ‘You staying out for the night now then?’ Angela asked, as she returned from serving.
    ‘No, I’m gonna finish this then I think I’ll see if I can run into Twinkle.’
    Angela looked at him earnestly for a moment but passed no judgement.
    ‘I’ve just been to visit Jack,’ Scott said, eager to change the subject.
    ‘How’s he doing?’ she asked, smiling thinly as her hand raised and brushed against the two silver hoops in her right ear. ‘It must be a couple of years now since I ran into him. Is he still doing those radio shows as well?’
    ‘Yeah he’s still got all that going on, and no doubt more besides. The endless pursuit of wealth and happiness,’ Scott said, and grinned.
    ‘So what prompted the family reunion today then, a thick slice of Christmas guilt?’ she asked.
    ‘Yeah I guess it was something like that,’ Scott said, not wanting to divulge anything Jack had said about Twinkle. ‘He’d texted when my phone was off and asked if I could call in. I saw Stephanie getting out of the lift in his building.’
    ‘Really, what was she doing there?’
    ‘She didn’t say, visiting Jack though I suppose. She’s PA to the manager at Aura so they know each other.’
    ‘She say anything about not meeting me last night?’
    ‘Just that she got caught up with some stuff. She looked disappointed about it though.’
    Angela nodded and then went to serve another customer. Scott drank the remainder of his beer.
    ‘I’ll see you later, Angela,’ he said, and walked back out into the mass of shoppers.
    A cursory glance around a few other bars had turned up no sign, so Scott decided to try John Henry’s, one of Twinkle’s favourite haunts. A conversation with Aldo, one of Twinkle’s old drinking buddies, revealed he was expected there within the hour.
    Deciding to wait, Scott sat down with a pint away from the bar at a corner table and lit a cigarette. The clientele in there on Sunday afternoon were the same as most other afternoons. From middle aged to old men, drinking and cursing at the world like it was the last bus which had just left the stop without them. Being a city centre bar these didn’t tend to be old codgers waiting for the wife to prepare Sunday roast before staggering home to eat and then sleep it off. They mostly drank there until they passed out or were thrown out. That’s why Twinkle likes the place so much, Scott thought, looking around at the faded wood veneer tables, and the faded souls drinking at them. Misery was soaked through the place like the old beer soaked through its carpets.
    One bright point in there was Joanne. Scott saw her come in breezily to start her shift while he waited at his table. Joanna was the longest serving of the bar staff. She seemed able to suck up any amount of negativity and scorn and just turn the other cheek without becoming bogged down in it like her workmates. She joked that the staff roster had its own revolving door, and that name tags were essential as she never recognised anyone on her side of the counter. She had a cheery demeanour, maybe just edged above five feet in height if she wore heels, and she