Bella and Butch Tangleberrie had owned Rockard’s only saloon bar for as long as I could remember. Butch was a real gentleman, very softly spoken with a kind face and a wicked sense of humour, Bella however was a different bag of chips altogether. Born of German descent, she was as cold as a Canadian winter and as loud as an 18 wheel rig. Poor girl wasn’t blessed with looks either, she’d fallen out of the ugly tree at an early age and managed to hit every branch on the way down.
Originally called the Golden Star, it slowly fell into dis-repair after the Tangleberries moved in. Bella’s home cooking was far from wholesome, leaving the locals running for Dr Hunglos. And Butch’s home brewed sour mash was only ever good for stripping paint off a barn door. As the floor got dirtier, the dust got deeper and the paint more faded, it soon earned the nickname of the Rusty Star. Town folk would say that if you were feeling low then get yourself over to the Rusty Star and you’d soon discover what the true meaning of depression was. Bella would sit at the end of the bar with her Tarot cards, chewing on a cigar and spitting into her ashtray whilst Butch would be at the other end cleaning the beer mugs and listening to the weather report on the radio.
Nobody could understand how on earth they stayed in business or why they would want to stay together, some surmised they could be brother and sister, others said that one must hold a terrible secret over the other and yet others just agreed that they must enjoy being miserable. I would often ask Butch the same question whenever we got together for boys card nights, (we once played at The Rusty but the boys soon complained about Bella’s swearing and farting, so we decided to provide our own beer and play in Leroy’s canteen), and he would always say the same thing, ‘Randy, don’t you worry, I’ll be getting my rewards one day.
Things changed for Butch the day I introduced him to a good friend of mine who had come to visit me. Julian was his name and we’d met many years before whilst serving together in the Canadian Air Corp. Everyone knew he was a member of the rear gunner division, but he was a real funny guy and hey, as long as he never polished his weapon in front of me, then live and let live is what I say....Continued .....
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