Julia said if I wanted to get Lucky,
Dexter’s Bar on Avenue B was the best place to look.
“What if I don’t want to get Lucky?” I asked.
She threw my keys at me. I caught them,
so I didn’t get beaned or anything.
I headed out to Dexter’s.

Sure enough, the bartender pointed me to Lucky at a booth in the back.
She was slumped over a table with some geriatric feeling her up.
“Enough o’ that,” I said, pulling him off, then lifting her
by the back of her shirt. “Luck? Wake up.”
“I’m up!” she said, “What’s it to ya?”
“Julia wants you back at her place.”
“Whatever, man,” Lucky said, “I’m having a fine time here.”
“Like I give a shit? Julia asked me to get you. Let’s go.”
She grumbled, but Lucky stood herself up and tried to collect her jacket.
Her coordination was not, at the moment, stellar.
“What do you need, Luck? Lemme help you out.”
She pointed, but I already could guess what was hers.
Lucky’s ragged punk fashion sense was all too clear.

The walk back to Julia’s was winding, slow.
Lucky was unsteady, so every now and then my hand would close on her shoulders
and we would walk together until her gait seemed to improve.
“You gotta get your act together, Luck.”
“Y’know, you might be the first person to tell me that all week, Lar.”
“Amount you drink’s gonna kill you.”
She chuckled and said, “You got a faster way?”
I was quiet for a minute or two until I muttered, “That’ll kill your sister, too.”
which I think shut her up pretty well.
We walked pretty quiet the rest of the way.

“Here we are!” Lucky shouted in the house.
“You don’t look great,” Julia said from the kitchen, “Go wash up. This’ll be stew, eventually.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Lucky was again too loud, but dutifully headed to the bathroom.
“Dexter’s?” Julia asked.
“Dexter’s.”
She sighed. I sighed. “You figure we can access a state-run program again?”
She shook her head. “Pretty sure they’ve got an eight strikes rule in by now.”
It’s not like this was a new conversation, anyway. It felt pretty performative.
“What’re we gonna do?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Exactly how Luck would have it, I guess. Same as always.”
She signed again, and returned to her stew.