Free Live to Tell by G. L. Watt Page A

watch.
    “Sorry,” I mouthed, and hung my coat on a hook behind the bar door.
    A young man sat at the counter reading the London Evening Standard newspaper and sipping a pint. He glanced up as I came in and appeared to do a double take. I patted my front wondering if in my haste a button had come undone but everything seemed to be in order. He stared at me and I felt a hint of recognition, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him before.
    “Italy,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “You were with Olly at that bar in the hills. It’s Danny.” He held out his hand.
    The tanned, fit looking boy, I remembered, had grown a couple of inches and his shoulders had broadened. He had turned into, what my father would have called, a fine young man. I shook his hand and his warm grasp held mine for just a second longer than it should.
    “So, what are you up to, besides working in a pub? Do you live around here?”
    “I’m an art student,” I said. “In Warwick Avenue. What about you?”
    Before he could answer, a loud group of men bustled in. They were obviously on one leg of a pub crawl and fearing Jim still had his eye on me, I hurried to serve them. I poured their drinks and those of another large group who met up with them. As I took their money, I noticed that Danny was on his way out of the bar. A couple of friends were with him and he gave me a cheery wave from the door. I smiled at him, feeling unexpectedly happy.

    Several weeks had gone by since my encounter with Danny. Then, one night I came into the bar and there he was. He looked round as I entered.
    “They told me you were working tonight,” he said. “I came in a couple of days ago, on the off chance. I’d have been in sooner, but I’ve been out of the country. The night I was here before, I was having a last drink with a couple of blokes before leaving.”
    “Were you working or on holiday?”
    “Believe me, it was no holiday. How’ve you been? We were rather cut off by the crowd, the last time. I’d no idea this place got so full. I guess word got around about the gorgeous girl working behind the bar.”
    I smiled at him feeling a bit shy. It was so lovely to be talking to someone in a relaxed way, not worried about illness and injury. He smiled back, and I noticed, with surprise, how blue his eyes were.
    “Can I get you a drink,” he asked.
    I shook my head. “The boss doesn’t like us drinking when we are working,” I said. “I stick to tonic and I get those free. A real cheap date, me.”
    “You didn’t tell me where you are living.”
    “Oh, it’s not far, just a bus ride away.”
    “That sounds very mysterious,” he said. “Do you live at home?”
    “No, er, I share an apartment with someone.”
    He looked serious. “A boyfriend,” he asked.
    “No, just a regular house mate.”
    He looked around again, checking that we were not being overheard. “I was going to ask you… .” he began.
    An elderly man who had just come in rapped the copper rim of the bar top loudly with a coin, making me jump.
    “Oh, I’ll have to go, the place is filling up. Sorry.”
    I noticed that he watched me as I dealt with a stream of customers. Really, we needed two people, all the time in this bar. It was impossible. If anything went wrong, it was chaos. But what could I do? I didn’t pay the wages. After half-an-hour’s continual serving, Jim joined me and I took the chance to look across at Danny. He was still sitting on the same bar stool, and he caught my eye and waved. I went over to re-fill his glass.
    “Do you get a break,” he asked.
    I shook my head. “No. It’s straight through till closing time. It’s only four hours a night. Could be worse. I quite like it here and it pays well by pub standards. As a student I don’t have many choices. I’ll have to go,” I said, noticing the backlog that was building.
    “Over here,” Jim called out, indicating the assembled mob.
    The next time I looked over to where Danny