I turned around in time to see Henry's silhouette spring from the shadows as the neon lights buzzed and flickered to life.

"What do you want?"

"A beer and a shot of Old Grandad."

Henry raised his eyebrows, "Drinking with granddad, nice. We're hitting the ground running tonight aren't we?" He said, reaching for the bottle of brown whiskey behind the bar.

I put a cigarette in my mouth and waited for him to light it. "Do me a favor would ya? Take my backpack and put it behind the bar."

"Sure," he said, striking a match. "I'll run a tab for you too. I thought we'd close it out about one thirty or so."

"Timestamps, Good idea."

"Yep, you'll be here all night, alone. I'll talk to you in a while, I've got to clean this place up before it gets rockin'."

He filled the sink and started to work on the leftover glasses from last night. I tilted the beer glass and drank, holding the bitterness in my mouth for an instant before swallowing. The blue-white light from underneath made the brown whiskey look like green swamp water. I studied it for a few moments before emptying the shot glass in one quick motion. Its warmth slid down my throat as I clinked the small glass on the glass top of the bar.

"Another?" he asked, not looking away from the soapy water.

"Yes," I said in a flat voice. "You better keep those coming for a while."

I drank at a steady pace, finishing a beer and a shot every twenty minutes or so. To spite my pace, Henry immediately refilled my glass no matter how busy he was. By ten o'clock I was feeling the effects and slowed my pace. He came over, bottle in hand, as soon as I placed my glass on the bar again.

"What time do you have to split?" he asked, filling the glass to the top.

"Ten thirty. If I leave by then, I can be back here at one thirty to close my tab out."

"We'll both be here waiting for ya," he said, putting the bottle away. He leaned on the bar and placed his head close to mine. "Hey, I've set'em up like this for you quite a few times now and I was always curious about why you're so careful in the planning only to get blasted the night you actually do it."

I looked up at him from the shot glass full of green whiskey and measured my response, knowing that I would have to remember it. "Courage."

He looked at me for a long time before he spoke, as though he were trying to discern the real reason. "I could see that," he said finally. "Clouds your judgment enough to do it huh?"

"Something like that," I said smiling. "No more shots Henry, but I could use another beer."