Free Nobody Bats a Thousand by Steve Schmale

worked with you at the old Stardust on Hobson Boulevard.” T he bartender squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin. “That would have been about nineteen and sixty  ”
    “No need to be specific, Dick. Of course I remember. That was my first cocktail job. I wasn’t even twenty-one.”
    “I remember you were pretty green, but you picked it up real quick.”
    “You’ve got quite a memory, Dick.”
    “I never forget a pretty blonde, which is probably the reason I’m still working and not retired to Palm Springs. Coffee black, you got it. I just made a fresh pot. ” Dick turned to his right and walked away.
    “Oh heck, put a shot of Baileys in it, Dick.”
    The bartender delivered the drink and slid MJ’s money back towards her. “I got the first one, babe.”
    “Well, thank you Dick.” Mary Jean rewarded him with a big smile. “Say, Dick, you probably know someone I’m trying to get a hold of. They call her Red Hat Patty.”
    “Patty? Sure she’s in here just about every mornin g for a shot of Beam and a beer.” H e looked at his watch. “She’s usually in here by now. What’d she do rip you off?”
    “Why?  Is she a thief?”
    “I wouldn’t go as so far as to call her a thief, but I wouldn’t trust her to hold my wallet if you know what I mean.”
    “Oh no, this isn’t about anything bad. I just heard through a friend of a friend that she might be able to help me find something I lost.”
    “Well if she comes in I’ll point her out, but I probably won’t have to that red hat thing speaks for itself,” the bartender said. Then he walked down to the other end of the bar to attend to his other customers.
    Mary Jean sat sipping her coffee and trying to mind her own business. Occasionally she took a glance at the digital clock on the cable TV box that kept her mindful that time was slipping away on this fragile project, and her mission du jour was probably a total waste of time anyway.  She finished her drink and ordered another.
    “Coffee and Bailey’s, right?”
    “Yeah…oh shoot, put a little Irish in too, just a little.”
    Dick delivered the mixture and again slid her money back at her. “That ge ntleman wants to buy it for you.” H e nodded in the direction of a skinny guy several stools down who looked to be about a hundred and forty years old. “Don’t worry. He’s harmless. He’s just being nice.”
    Normally MJ would have refused a drink from a stranger, but owing to the bartender’s disclaimer and the fact that her cash was running low, she accepted without personally acknowledging the old coot. “Tell him thanks.”
    More time slid by in this lonely old bar full of lonely old people. Mary Jean looked up at the clock to see it was seven-fifteen. “Dick.” S he waved him over. “So what are my chances of seeing Patty today?”
    He turned to check the time. “If she’s not here by now the chances aren’t good. I’ll say one thing for her, she works hard at what she does, and she likes to get an early start.”
    “Could you do me a big favor?” S he pulled a pen from the lotto ticket display on the bar and wrote her name and Nadine’s phone number down on a fresh cocktail napkin. “I’ve got to leave after this drink, but if you see Patty in the next few days could you give me a call? I’d really appreciate it. ” Mary Jean forced a smile, which wasn’t easy to provide at this time of the morning after so little sleep. “But this is just between you and me, okay?  I wouldn’t want to scare her away.”
    “No problem.” H e tucked the napkin into his breast pocket.
    Mary Jean swished around the final contents of her coffee cup, and was just about to suck down the dregs, when Dick deliver ed a fresh one. “What’s this?” S he was both surprised and a little dizzy.
    “They included you in their last roll.” H e shrugged and nodded in the direction of the large group rolling dice at the other end of the bar.
    Mary Jean shrugged. “Tell ‘em thanks, I