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Miss Charming's Bar & Cocktail Forum

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AutoBARography 6: A Christmas Past/Part 2

"This is probably the greatest thing I've ever done in my life," I told Jack.

But the girl pushed it away with a sob. "I can't." The drink came apart, its colors sloshing and bleeding into one another. She got up." I've got to go back there."

"No..." He pushed her down and whispered vehemently. "We're going to have a Christmas drink just like we said...Then, we'll go uptown..."

You stand behind the bar and try to get the story straight. This looked like a long term relationship finally crumbling. He trying to hold it together. She desperate to escape.

Peggy, the waitress, sipped the ruined pousse cafe. "It tastes like poisoned candy," she said.

The girl found a crumpled cigarette. He fumbled with his lighter. "What do you think they're doing now?" he asked

She took a sucking drag and blew the smoke through her nose. "I don't know what they do anymore."

"Your Mom's making her special egg nog like she always does, right? Well, we can have one, too." He turned to me with a pleading look. "Bartender, two beautiful Christmas egg nogs..."

We made a classic egg nog at Spring Street. Three parts heavy cream, two parts cognac, one egg yolk and gomme syrup in a mixing glass (we didn't use blenders back in the day.) Shake vigorously and pour in a tall glass. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

The beauty lit one cigarette off another. Not a good sign.

"Talk to me," the fat kid said urgently. "What did you do on Christmas when you were a kid?"

"You know..."

"Tell me anyway..."

Another deep drag. "We'd spend a few days in town with Daddy...Skate at the Wallman rink...Then he'd put us on a plane to Aspen to meet Mom and Bart. Mom and Bart would go skiing and Francy and I would freeze in that dark chalet...When it was dark, they'd come back with their friends. Bart would try to get the fire going and everybody would laugh because he was so loaded. Mom would come out of the kitchen. Time for my special egg nog, she'd say..."

Almost on cue I laid the drinks in front of them. He took a tentative sip and brightened. "This is good...Just like your Mom used to make... "

She could hardly put it to her lips. When she did she shook her head..."No, it's not like it at all ..." And got up again. "I have to go back there..."

On second look I saw that her long, graceful fingers were yellow with nicotine. The face under that mass of dark hair was gray. The eyes had the panic of a trapped animal. "Let me go back there, please..."

What was "there?" A pile of coke? An abusive lover? Was this fat, red-faced kid trying desperately to save a tragic beauty he would hopelessly love forever? Suddenly, his face had a suffering nobility. His shoulders sagged and he stepped away. "I'll get a taxi."

He slid a twenty under the ashtray.

"Sorry about the egg nog," I said.

He shrugged like it didn't matter. "Merry Christmas."

He stood arm raised in the middle of Spring Street where cabs never came, while she shivered in a doorway.

Peggy took a sip of my spurned masterpiece and made a face.

"More like ugh nog," she said.