A Bar Joke
“A horse walks into a bar, and the barman says?”
“That’s so lame… you should know better than that!” Brad shakes his head, chuckles and wipes off the spills of Guinness foam on the counter top. She is all dressed up, all corporate, extra formal than usual. A bit over the top, he thinks. Then he remembers.
“Hey, how did that job interview go? You mentioned it last week. Did you go for it?”
“Yeah, it sucked.”
“Oh… what happened, girl?”
“The guy who interviewed me is a prick, and his sidekick, the HR woman, is a bitch.”
“Fair enough.”
“Prick and bitch. Pour me another please.” She puts a rather used ten Singapore dollar note on the counter, and fumbles in her briefcase for more.
Yeah she is dressed up a bit over the top. Should have shed that string of pearls for a thin silver necklace. Maybe too much blue eye shadow. Still she is a damn good-looking woman. Sophisticated Indian, yet willowy. Pity about that ass of a husband though.
*
Well, just like that, huh. Alone on the barstool, again. And single. Single and desperate? No way, single and sensational! Yes, that’s me, she thinks, and slurps more of that dark bitter liquid.
How can I still be so friggin single in my thirties? I used to have a man… a husband by my side; a husband at the bar listening to gigs; a husband at dinners; a husband at concerts; my friends who were his friends, and now they’re not my friends any more because they take his side… and they think I’m bitter. I’m not bitter I’m a gorgeous, intelligent, sexy, yes I can be sexy too, very sexy indeed thank you very much if the occasion calls for it, and I am not bitter, nor am I rigid, how could they say I had been rigid or was it frigid, no it was rigid, can’t be frigid because yes if you must know I made passionate love, I made passionate love, yes I did make beautiful passionate love because I loved him, yes I loved that asshole, I loved that fucking loser…
“Lyla, you’re mumbling to yourself.”
“What?”
What happened next? Read the rest of this short story when She Never Looks Quite Back by Mallika Naguran is out in 2022.