Tuesday, March 5, 2019

SPACE SALOON by Daniel Hampton

I was sittin’ on a three-legged stool at the bar. The bartender was wiping the counter with a white cloth. I was sippin’ on my favorite beverage, Photon Burst. It’s basically space Kool-Aid. With copious amounts of mind-altering substances mixed in. Hey, it’s
legal here.

“You gonna sit there all night?” The bartender asked.

“Hey, I’m paying you, ain’t I?”

“Who even says ‘ain’t’ anymore? What are you, a cow?”

“What? Since when do cows say ain’t?”

“Isn’t that what they were called? Cows? They’re in West movies.”

“Cowboys? In Westerns?”

“Yeah, sure, that.”

“And you were the one criticizing my vocabulary?”

“You mean vocab?”

“What dialect is this? Where are you from?”

“Exgalon 4.”

“My readership isn’t going to know where that is.”

I was working on a manuscript, not this one, openly on the counter. Due to brain chemical imbalance, it didn’t end up being remotely legible.

“Are you writing down everything I’m saying?”

“...Yes?”

“Young single ladies, my number is 547-”

“You gotta pay for ads.”

“Don’t you need to pay to use my words?”

“I have plausible deniability.”

“You’re awful.”

It was at that point that the saloon doors burst open. Into a million pieces.

“OW, THE SPLINTERS!” I yelled.

“Why did you say ‘the splinters’? I’m right here. I have them too. Are you providing exposition for your story?”

“…Yes?”

“I enjoy long walks on the-”

“Cliff, got it. Thanks. Now, who blew up the door?”

“That would me.” A gruff voice bellowed from behind me. I turned around. The guy was massive, probably a half ton. He was covered in scales all over.

“Are you naked?” I asked.

“Huh!? These scales are my clothes!”

“How’re scales different than skin?”

“…Shut up! You wanna fight or something!?”

“Ew, I don’t want to fight some naked guy.”

“Wha- I’m not naked!”

“Sir,” The bartender said, “We don’t serve naked people here. You need to go to one of those nudist bars. There’s one next door.”

“There’s a nudist bar next door?” I asked.

“No, but there is a hair salon. Hehehe.”

“You’re cruel.”

“I HEARD ALL THAT!” The scaly naked man yelled.

“Whatchoo gonna do about it, punk?”

“You, me, outside. We’re gonna handle this like adults.”

“Naked adults, apparently.”

I got up and walked out to the front of the saloon. It was a large, open road. There were various shops on both sides of the road, but the place was pretty well deserted.

“So, is this a duel or something?” I asked.

“You can still avoid it if you apologize!”

“Apologize for what?”

“Calling me naked! That hurt my feelings…”

“…But you are naked, though.”

“That’s it, take your paces! Let’s settle this!”

The scaly man turned around and began walking away from me. I took out my laser pistol and shot him in the back.

“That hurt! Why’d you do that!?”

“That didn’t kill you!?”

“Huh, this wasn’t a duel to the death! You crazy?”

“That shot would’ve killed me!”

“Oh, really?”

“Don’t ‘oh, really’ me!”

“Well, you shot me too early, cheater!”

“Who would actually play fair in this situation! I like living, thank you very much!”

“I like living too!”

“Why did you say that like you have something unique in common with me? Are you actually braindead?”

“Stop calling me names!”

“Look, this seems like it was all some big misunderstanding. How about we head back in the saloon, and permanently damage our gray matter with Photon Burst?”

“Woah, I thought you said you liked living. That stuff’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, thanks, mom. Now, shall we?”

“Yeah, ok. As long as you don’t call me naked again.”

“We’ll, uh, let’s agree to disagree.”

With that, we both walked back to the saloon. Sadly, they kicked the scaly guy out for public nudity. Well, that’s life. I drank until my mind oozed out of my ears, and thoroughly annoyed the bartender. Really, all in all, it wasn’t a bad night, for what I remember.

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