Maiors

Olin VII

"Hey! One... One more down here!"

"You've had enough Señor Hendez."

"Eh.. Enough?" the man chuckled, "Gedda louda dis guy.." He slammed his hand down on the bar.

"I ssaaaid I want. One. More."

"And I said no." I smirked and walked over to him.

"Come on Felipé. You know your limit's six. Anymore and I'll have to carry you to your sister's again."

"I-I can dooo it dis time."

"Get up Felipé." a woman said, now walking over, "I called you a cab."

"Shaaddyuup!" he cried right before he hunched over and puked.

"Goddamnit!" she yelled, "I just mopped the fucking floor." She reached over and grabbed Felipé by the shoulders and pulled him off his stool.

"Be gentle Claudia!" I grabbed some sawdust as she dragged him out the door and to the waiting car.

"Every Friday." she sighed as she sat at the bar, "I have to throw that man out every week."

"You know he'd leave on his own." I replied.

"Yeah, once he beats his record." she said mockingly, trying to imitate his voice.

"Six mugs of bicho." I chuckled, "I'm not sure that's even possible. I can't even imagine how he got to five before." I finished cleaning up and made my way back behind the bar.

"You'd think he'd built up a tolerance at this point." Claudia laughed.

She grabbed a glass and poured herself some water. She looked over at me and saw the picture I was cleaning. It was a portrait of me and my family.

"Still miss her?" she asked.

I just sighed. It had been a while since I last saw my family. Hollice placed me into the care of Juan Suarez, a business associate of his. While in Kaseo, I worked part time as a bartender and spent the rest of my time studying under Juan.

"Espionage?" I asked Hollice.

"Intelligence gathering." He replied, "Mr. Suarez owns a nice pub frequented by military personnel. Your job is to make connections, gather information, and report back to me what you find."

"While bartending?" I asked.

"Do your best." He said with a smile.

That was ten years ago. Since then, I rarely saw anyone from my life back in Colrad. Hollice visited once a year to see how much I progressed in my studies and to make sure I maintained my military upbringing. As for my family, He allowed me to visit home twice a year. I wasn't completely cut off from them, but Hollice wanted to make sure my top priority was my current assignment. Still, all the studying in the world couldn't keep me from missing home, my mom.

Just under six years ago, she passed away. One day she was fine, then the next... I don't know how long she was in the hospital for. Days? Weeks? I didn't hear the news until after she died. I felt my own heart stop that day. Froksis. A rare disease caused by prions. They say she got it from some contaminated meat she ate.

"Luckily she was in a coma before her organs shut down." dad said, "She didn't suffer."

Lucky

I never really felt the same afterwards. After that, I barely kept in contact with Leo and dad. It was like mom was the glue that kept us close. I had even started to skip my allotted visits back home. The picture I hung up was a photo we'd taken as a family before she died. It still pained me to look at her face, but I needed it there. I still wanted to see her. No matter how grainy this beige and black old timey photo was.