24
“Be selfish, stupid and have good health. But if stupidity is lacking, then all is lost.”
Flaubert’s dictum for getting through life unscathed
*
Into Garavan’s, shouted a pint and took a seat in the snug.
Snug it is.
The pint came, I took a belt, pulled out the statement, shouted,
“Brandy, large.”
And punched the air. It wasn’t retirement money, but for some time to come, I wouldn’t be counting the shillings. Not with any caution anyway. When the brandy came, the guy asked, “Celebrating?”
“I am. What will you have?”
“A decade of the rosary.”
You can never impress them in that bar. I wanted to sit there all day, but my conscience whined,
“Yo, what about Jeff and Cathy?”
So I went to Nestor’s. The sentry was in place, his half before him. Jeff was washing glasses. The sentry
