She walked in and sat in a four-seat booth with high wooden backs because she wanted a little bit of privacy, if it existed, at a beach bar. She saw that there were a few couples scattered about the actual bar drinking and watching the baseball game. Some were men slugging down bears and obviously looking for women, and others were couples who seemed too sunburned and hoped the beer would cool them off.  But when she sat down, they couldn’t help but stare at her—her runway walk effortlessly floated to an unearthly rhythm and her hair couldn’t help but bounce in a lively symphony of feminine perfection.

She tried not to look around too much to avoid seeming like a spy, but everyone knew where she was, including Sam, who quickly came to meet her after 30 seconds, ignoring other customers wanting refills and took her order.

“Good afternoon.  What may I get you? A drink or maybe some food?  We have excellent sliders and onion rings.”

Her legs were crossed and her small right ankle showed outside the booth, bouncing up and down, making her open-toed shoes dangle in a precarious position and this distracted Sam.  “No, I think I just want some ice water and some ice cream.  You wouldn’t happen to have cookies and cream, would you?”

“Oh yes!  Coming right up.  And may I ask what brings you to our neck of the woods?”  Sam clearly hadn’t seen a customer like this since Veronica came in and interrogated him about Ollie after hypnotizing him with her deadly eyelashes.

“Are you Sam the bartender?”

“Why yes, how did you guess my name?”

“The truth is, I came her looking for you and perhaps some man named S.R.Carson.  An old man told me that you and this Carson guy could help me if I needed it.”

Sam felt a bit of a chill shooting up his spine.  Way too many people were here looking for Ollie and Carson and his bar was no longer off the beaten path. “Well mis um…”

“Suzy”

“So, tell me about this old man who told you to come to my bar.”

“That old man had crazy white hair and a cane.  His name is Ollie.  He served with my father in the military or something and it seems he has a connection to my father and I was curious about —”

Sam turned crimson when he heard his friend Ollie’s name and scurried off to get her ice cream and ice water and help other customers. He didn’t want trouble.

A muscle-bound man with barbed wire tattoos on his neck who had a few too many beers and perhaps on a bet from his friend, walked over to Suzy and sat right next to her, within an inch, on the same bench.  She tried to scoot away from him, but he followed her closer.

“You are such a steaming hot gift of a woman!  You must be new to this area, and I am the man who can show you around and keep you company.”

“I’m not alone, my boyfriend will be here in a few minutes.”

“That’s no problem, I’ll wait for him.  You will choose me anyway.”

She felt trapped in the booth, and nervously looked for Sam to come back with her ice cream and maybe get this guy away from her, but then, he’s just a bar owner.  What did she expect?  Then, the tattooed biker put his hairy arm around her dainty neck and tried to kiss her, and she pulled away, and then her eyes widened and looked up in shock…

Ollie suddenly appeared at her booth and commanded the biker: “Get your hands off her and apologize to the lady, then walk away.  If not, you’ll find yourself laying on the floor, begging for mercy, with peanut shells crunched up your ass and spilled beer and spit on your face, kissing the floor.”

“Ha! You are a decrepit old fart who can barely walk.  Now leave us lovers alone before I put you in your grave that you should have been in years ago and —”

Before he could finish, Ollie flung his cane directly with the hook around his neck and deftly yanked him out of the booth to the peanut shell-littered floor, and as he thumped onto the floor like a bag of potatoes, Ollie slammed his foot with his good leg into the man’s face, forcing his mouth with tongue slobbering onto the floor.

All the patrons stared, mouths open, frozen in disbelief. But nobody left.  “Apologize to her now, then, leave the bar, or I’ll have to rip your clueless lips off and put them in your filthy pockets.”

The biker looked up at Suzy, who now had tears in her eyes and said, “I’m sorry.” Ollie took his foot off his dirty face. Then, he got up, wiped the blood off his mouth and got his friend and they both left the bar.

Ollie smiled and looked at Suzy.  “I told you before, I will protect you, as your father Ray asked me to, and this is one of those rare occasions when I had to make an appearance. You are not alone, and you will be protected.   I see you have your favorite cookies and cream. Sam has quite a wide selection. Now I hope you can relax a little now, and who knows, you may even see Carson come in and you two can talk for a while.   I don’t know if he likes cookies and cream though, but I taught him to like Guinness because he’s my only friend and a friend of mine must drink Guinness.

Ollie picked up his cane and limped to the bathroom while Suzy just stared at her ice cream, astounded at what just happened, but her fear vanished into the wild mop of Ollies chaotic but loving hair and she plowed into her ice cream with huge spoonfuls of pleasure while she anxiously waited for the mysterious old man to return to talk.

Ollie never came back to her.

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