Ocarina decided that he needed a drink or something to pep up his drained confidence and overall outlook on this whole situation. He was pretty sure that this silly quest would be a wild goose chase, and he had picked out Elmer Fudd to do the hunting. He was like Don Quixote and McGurk was his Sancho Panza. He saw a cocktail lounge on the main street, which looked a bit more upscale from the lodgings of the detective McGurk. He was not accustomed to having a drink alone and not in the middle of the afternoon either, but he needed some time to figure things out and see what his next move should be. It was dark and cheerless inside the bar, at least he didn’t have to worry about getting into a better mood in this place. He noticed that there were a couple guys sitting at a booth near the door. They were engaged in some loud discussions, so he walked down to the end of the bar and sat on a stool there. The barmaid came over “what can I get for you, hon?” She was past the sweet bloom of youth, but still retained a large portion of her beauty and charm when she smiled. She might have been in her early forties, a brunette with long hair and a still shapely exterior. “I’ll have a glass of beer, whatever you have on tap.” She smiled “ok, how about a Wolfshead? It’s a local beer and pretty good.” “Fine, that sounds just right for me.” said Ocarina. She brought his beer and set it on a napkin for him. He took a quick sip, “tastes great” “Less filling” she laughed and walked back to the other side of the bar. He didn’t get the joke, but maybe he wasn’t in the right frame of mind. He sat and nursed his beer for a few minutes. He noticed one of the guys from the party at the booth was walking back his way, and he assumed the restrooms must be in the back of the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guy stop and turn around and came up behind him. “In all the gin joints in the whole world, who happens to be sitting at the end of the bar here? Ocarina Barkley! My old pal.”
Ocarina looked up and was looking up into the face of his old school chum, Eddie “Shakey’ Johnson. “Hey Shakey, , long time no see. How the heck are you doing these days?” Shakey Johnson was a long drink of water type of guy, all arms and legs and a nervous demeanor that helped everyone realize almost immediately why he was nicknamed Shakey.
“So, Ocarina, what are you doing here drinking a beer in the middle of the day? Are you out of work, looking for work, married, single, divorced, what’s you status, Gladys? To my eyes, you aren’t looking to be at the top of your game.”
“I’m doing okay, just here on business and taking a break to figure out my next move.” said Ocarina. “More importantly what’s the update on you? The last I heard of you, you had finally finished school and were looking to go into business for yourself. Haven’t heard anything since.”
“Nice of you to ask, my man. Things are looking up these days in more ways than one. I have my own little shop doing tax returns for people and along the way, I also have acquired a string of car washes spread throughout the local countryside in these parts.” said Shakey.
“That is a weird combination. Taxes and car washes. Only you, Shakey could be operating a situation like that. So you are dong well then? “
“Better than well. I have a nice set up with the taxes. I keep it simple. Maybe four or five basic plans. You always said that I could make the numbers dance, and that gave me the idea for my menu of options available to my clientele. They can pick the basic conservative model, the Square Dance, then they move on to the more aggressive modes of tax reporting. You have the Twist, the Tango and for those who really want to shake things us, we have the Louie Prima Special. It’s up to you, how you want to dance.”
“Oh boy, Shakey, you haven’t changed much, I hope you stay on the right side of the IRS.” laughed Ocarina. “What about the car wash deal, is the tax business that bad, that you have to moonlight washing cars?”
“That is a whole other story. I fell into that when one of my clients had a problem, couldn’t pay his bills and had to leave the area. I bought the whole operation for a very reduced price. As you know, car washes are a cash business, so it has turned out to be very lucrative. Can’t complain about, as W C Fields used to say, bringing in the Elusive Spondoolicks. But enough about me, what is your story, you look mostly prosperous. Did you ever marry that girl, Carey or whatever her name was? “
“No, that was not in the cards. At least not yet. But I am working on it.’ said Ocarina, with a little bit of lemonish expression on his face.
“So what’s the problem? She won’t say yes?” “Not quite, I am trying to track her down. I think she is still the girl for me, but I just need to reconnect with her. That’s why I’m here. I am so desperate, I just finished up with an appointment hiring a detective to track her down.” he said a little sheepishly.
“Wow! You are the mayor of desperation city. Couldn’t you find someone else? It seems like she is not the one for you, it is not your fate.”
“I know it seems like I am not the smartest guy in the world, or even in this bar. But, until I find her and try to bring her back to my life, I will never be happy.”
“Okay Ocarina, maybe I can help you. Is she somewhere around here?”
“I’m not sure, but not much further north of Mancelona or thereabouts.”
“Well, that is not much to go on, but I do have my string of car washes. I could put the word out to my boys and see if anyone might know her. What did you say her name was again?”
“When I last saw her,” said Ocarina “she was Corey Burlington, but she might have gotten married, changed her name. Just that she had taken up with an over the road truck driver. Her sense of adventure was a bit limited.”
“Okay, maybe between your Sam Spade dude and my contacts we might turn something up for you.” laughed Shakey. “I’ll see what I can do. Let me have your contact information that of your private eye, and who knows? Maybe it will all have a happy ending and you will be reunited with your true love, or……not”
Ocarina gave him his card and they shook hands and Shakey went back to his friends. Ocarina decided to leave the warm beer and cold bar and get to work. He called McGurk to give him the update on Shakey and give him the ok to work with him. He also decided that if nothing turned up soon, he would give up this quest and get back to reality, whatever that might be.