I escaped the city traffic by leaving early on the Friday afternoon, looking forward to enjoying a five-day long weekend away from the hustle and bustle. Being an investment broker, meant that I did brilliantly for myself, and was driving a Porsche SUV and headed to my beach house that was fully paid. I stopped briefly at home, making sure that my house sitter had enough money for pet food as she has to look after my two Jack Russel terriers and Snowy, the white cat, that just came into my house one day, and decided to stay for good.
I made sure that I packed my beach clothes, laptop computer, and enough beer to last me for two weeks, but you can't be too sure; maybe my friends will come over, so I have to have enough.
The 240 km to the beach town was an easy ride for the Porsche and everything went well until 35 km short of my destination. The traffic suddenly ground to a halt and I could see a line of cars for about 3 kilometres ahead, where i could see some red and blue lights, indicating the presence of police- and emergency vehicles. I asked one of the pedestrians coming from the opposite direction, what happened. They told me a petrol tanker capsized, losing the entire load of fuel on the road.
I heard them say that it could take up to six hours to clear all the petrol to make it safe to pass and I was immediately agitated, wanting my leisurely weekend to begin and not having to sit there the whole night.
Suddenly a cop came from the opposite direction telling everybody that If they are in a hurry, they can back up about 800 meters. There is a detour with the road running through a small village. It will be 45 km longer to reach my destination, but it sounded better than sitting in the baking sun for another six hours. I thanked him, turned the SUV around even going off -road for a while, and headed towards the alternative route. I took the turnoff and was pleasantly surprised to find a small village about eight minutes drive from the main road. As my mood lifted quite a bit, I cruised through the one tarred road amazed to find such a lovely little town. Suddenly my eye caught an old Victorian building, with the faded letters spelling Royal Hotel and a door further Public Bar and yet further Ladies' Bar.
I was quite thirsty because the beers I brought were warm and I could do with a nice cold pint.
There were only two further vehicles: two dirty Toyota trucks which I presumed belonged to farmers in the area. The foyer of the hotel was deserted, and so was the ladies' bar, but I could hear a jukebox playing next door in the bar. To no ones surprise I found two farmers sitting at one table, quite visibly drunk and only a pretty little thing behind the bar counter.
She asked politely in a husky voice what I was drinking, and I answered to give me half a litre of Hansa Pilsener-on-tap. She poured my beer in a frosty glass, and I noticed she walked with an uneven gate when she turned around to close the freezer. Choosing a table in the furthest corner from the farmers, I started to enjoy the refreshing beverage. Suddenly one of the farmers called in a booming, but slurring voice: "Milly, bring us two more and make ity quick." The bar lady blushed and wanted to say something, but decided against it pouring them two double brandies and Coke. "Will you hurry up, or should I fetch myself", he slurred.
Milly (the bar tender) came around the bar counter and I could now see why she was walking with such a laboured gait. She carried the tray in her right hand while her left hand was in the cuff of a forearm crutch with her left leg dragging behind her. I could see that the entire leg was encased in a heavy brace ending with a huge 5 or 6 inches high built-up boot. She limped towards them and when she lowered the tray on the table, some of the drink spilled inside the tray. "What are you, an idiot; isn't it enough to be crippled and clumsy?!" roared the farmer. I could see tears welling up in the corner of her eyes of embarrassment and when she turned around he gave her an almighty slap on her behind, nearly causing her to lose her balance. I was prepared to let the foul language go, but when he started to get physical, I was up in a flash, using my army training to restrain him by putting his head in a deadly clamp from which he was unable to escape. "Why you..." yelled the second farmer storming towards me to try to throw me off balance. He was way too drunk and I was way too fast for him, stepping aside and tripping the six-foot 250-pound man, so that he overshot me and ran into the wall, blood from his damaged nose dripping off the wall. I let the first farmer go just before he lost consciousness, and he sagged to the floor in a heap.
Suddenly a voice from behind the bar: "Vic and Bill, are you guys causing trouble again? You know you can't handle your alcohol." The owner of the hotel appeared next to Milly, and he came forward, chucking them physically out of the door.
"I will get you for this", Vic yelled with hate in his eyes directed at me.