Girl Walks Out of a Bar by Lisa F. Smith

Author:Lisa F. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781590793121
Publisher: SelectBooks, Inc.
Published: 2016-05-20T04:00:00+00:00

On days when I had to go to the office, I could survive a dry morning by counting the hours until I’d be able to drink at lunch. One of my favorite drinking spots was Kaju, a sushi restaurant not far from my office but not close enough for my co-workers to frequent. It was small and family-run with a long sushi bar. The rolls, sashimi, and sushi under the glass always looked fresh and tempting, but the real draw was the machine at the end of the sushi bar that heated up the sake. It looked like a polished, metal soft-serve ice cream machine.

One morning in the office, just after eleven, it became clear to me that I couldn’t hold out until twelve-thirty to drink. I couldn’t concentrate on anything on my computer screen. My hands shook too much to keep a pen steady and my legs were bouncing up and down like a punk band drummer’s. A thin layer of sweat covered my neck and chest.

Screw it. “Marie, I have an early lunch. I’ll be on my phone if you need me,” I said to my assistant. I slung my coat and purse over my arm and swished past her, not meeting her eye.

I sneaked out the back of the building and jumped into a cab. My knees bounced during the entire ride and I buried my head in my hands. Let’s go.

“Hello!” the owner’s wife said with a big wave as I walked into Kaju at 11:30 a.m. Her hair was up in a tight bun and she wore an apron with what appeared to be the restaurant’s name spelled out in Japanese letters.

“Hi!” I said, utterly relieved to be in the dark restaurant with the magic sake machine.

“The sake is not hot yet. Very sorry,” she said. She switched on the machine and it whirred into action. I should have been embarrassed that at eleven thirty in the morning she felt compelled to apologize for not having my booze ready. Instead, I sat at a table for four and stared at the machine, watching for a sign that it was time.

Relief finally came in the form of the three hot sakes that accompanied my California roll. With my body calmed down, I went to the restaurant’s bathroom and pulled out the toothbrush and toothpaste I always carried. Three brushings and three sticks of gum later, I headed back to the office. It was almost 1:00 p.m. Now I would count the hours until five o’clock.

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