> Tall Tales from Tall Tale: A Typical Saturday Night
>  by bucking bronco 1968
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Well..... For the Most Part
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Working for the railway tends not to leave one having a normal schedule, especially if you're part of a hoof plate crew. While we up in Tall Tale tried not to run the crews too hard, the typical crew would still work for roughly two weeks straight before getting a few days of downtime. 

Now for the many crew ponies who had families in either Tall Tale, Hoofington, or Vanhoover, this didn't mean they were away from their family for the entirety of those two weeks. Oftentimes their last run would put them in their hometown, but it was never a guarantee. 

Once they had pulled their two weeks, crews would get between four and six days off from work before starting things all over again, the length of the break typically depenant on what type of service they were assigned to. This was the case for pretty much every type of crew that ran on Tall Tale metals, except for two, those being crews running HG-10's and TT-8's. 

Now while the HG-10's and later TT-8's were high quality and well engineered machines, no question about it, due to their potentially destructive high pressure steam systems, the owners of the railway put in a strict and rigorous maintenance program to make sure any and all potential issues were caught well before they became real problems. 

For example, Monday through Saturday, HG-10 crews were run hard, typically working at least 14 hours a day to move as much heavy freight over The Olde Grade as possible before Saturday night rolled around. Once a crew was done for the day on Saturday, every HG-10 and TT-8 would be moved into the shops in either Tall Tale or Vanhoover for a thorough inspection of every plate, rivet, valve, and component on the locomotive and tenders to ensure everything was in perfect working order. The locomotives would have any needed basic maintenance performed and then be thoroughly greased before the entire fleet of both engines, all 28 of them, were pushed out ready for another hard work week early Monday morning. 

This meant that every HG-10 and TT-8 crew got Sundays, and if they were lucky, Saturday nights off. While this meant we didn't get as many long breaks from work on the line, it was the closest anypony got to a normal work week among the engine crews, so we couldn't really complain too much. This maintenance initiative was picked back up again after we ran the nobles out and got back to operating the railway the proper way. 

As you can imagine, those rare Saturday nights crews had off while their engines were in the shops turned into one big pub crawl. 

And let me tell you, when me and my friends were young, we could really paint the town red. One particular night always sticks out to me, it was a few years after things had fully returned to normal.





Dusty and I were just coming into Tall Tale with a fully loaded coal train we had just dragged over The Olde Grade. It was about 6:30 in the evening and both of us were expecting to spend the weekend in Vanhoover as we anticipated dispatch to send us out on one more trip before calling it a day. 

As I brought the train to a stop on incoming track #3, I looked down to see Slip Coach walking up towards our engine. 

"What's the good word Slip?" I called over the heavy sounds of #9366. 

"A pretty damn good word for you two. We don't have anything else to send out over The Grade, so you guys get to pack it in for the night. Shops are waiting for you on track seven." 

I was surprised to hear that, as I said, having expected to be sent out for one more run. "Well look at you Slip, going and making our night." 

Slip let out a hearty laugh, "I try my best sometimes, you two have a good weekend." 

"Will do! You too Slip." Slip gave a nod before turning and walking away. "You hear any of that Dusty?" I asked as I turned to look at my friend, to find he was half awake leaning against the cab window. 

"Huh, hear what?"

"They don't have another train for us, once we get all squared away with this one, 66 is going to the shops." 

That perked Dusty up real quick, "Aw hell yeah! Early night!" 

I couldn't help but laugh as I finished up my manifest paperwork before passing it down to the shunter's crew that pulled up a few minutes later. Once they took over the train and uncoupled us, we pulled off and made our way over to the shops and pulled into bay seven. 

Once our engine was locked in place, and the shop crews began the blow down process, Dusty turned and looked at me, "So, bar night?" 

I threw my head back and laughed, "Hell yeah bar night, you're buying first round though. You lost the bet Wednesday." 

"Yeah yeah whatever. Come on." He said before quickly climbing down out of the cab, with me following close behind. 

After giving a brief maintenance and performance report to one of the shop ponies, one Dusty impatiently waited for me to be finished with, the two of us swiftly made our way out of the shops and onto the streets of Tall Tale, heading into town. 

A small portion of Tall Tale had been standing before the construction of the railway, with the main yard being built right next to it when the railroad was just starting out. Of course over the years our little town grew as the road did, with the main rail yard now standing as the center of town. However, many of the local businesses still sat on the original main road right next to the yard. This meant we didn't have to walk far before coming across the favored hang out of the local engine crews. 

The "Wrought Iron Tavern" wasn't the only bar in town, but it was by far the oldest, having been built five years before even the first rails of the Tall Tale yard had been laid. Because of this, and its close proximity to the yard, the "Wrought Iron Tavern" had become the defacto railwayman hang out whenever they had time off shift and a few extra bits to burn. 

This was proved as Dusty pulled the door to the bar open and we were greeted by the sights and sounds of the thoroughly packed establishment. 

"Clear a path! Thirsty firepony coming in hot!" Dusty yelled as we made our way in, causing me to laugh as many ponies turned and raised their glasses to us in greeting. Just as Dusty had "demanded", a path was quickly cleared for us to make it up to the bar so we could get our orders in, Dusty getting a shot of Trotka to get him going before his whiskey mixer was placed on the bar top, while I stuck to the tried and true hard cider, Sweet Apple Acres finest naturally. 

As our drinks were served up and another group of ponies pushed their way up to the bar, we heard a call over the din of the bar patrons, "Stokes! Dusty! Get your asses over here!" 

The two of us turned and were surprised to find Blow Torch, Ash Pan, Blastpipe, Crank Shaft, and most surprisingly Hazard all sitting at one of the booths in the back of the bar. 

"Well look at what we got here, what are you two doing off shift already? It's not even seven." Ash Pan asked as we shuffled into the booth. 

"Got lucky today, dispatch didn't have another train for us, so they let us out early." I said with a smirk as I took a long swing from my mug of cider. 

I then turned to Hazard, "Surprised to see you out on the town with these clowns, Hazard, you're not one who's much for the bar scene." 

Hazard couldn't help but laugh himself, "Oh I come out from time to time, Blastpipe happened to catch me as I was rolling in from my box and dragged me along." He'd reply with a head nod over towards Blastpipe. 

Blast couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own, "Oh yeah, I'm the bad guy here. Not like you weren't going to make your way over here yourself. I know that filly of yours is out of town." A round of laughs came from the table as Hazard blushed slightly and slugged Blastpipe in the shoulder. 

"How long you two been dating now?" Crank Shaft asked as the laughter died down. 

Hazard sat back and thought about it for a second, "Little over a year now, our anniversary was last month. Spring Mist is a good mare, just wish she didn't have to go to Hoofington for work so much." 

Coal Dust next to me shrugged, "That's the game you play when dating anypony who works for the railway, don't matter what they got behind their tail." 

The brashness of his comment earned him a smack to the back of the head from me as his brother sighed and put a hoof to his head, "Dial in the crass bro, you've barely had one drink." 

"Hey I'm still right!" Was all Dusty said back. 

"The two of ya are definitely related" Blow Torch said to Ash with a low chuckle. 

"Yeah, fuck you too Torch." Ash grumbled back before taking a long swing at his drink. 

The general atmosphere of the table soon returned to normal as we drank more and the night wore on. I was never one to get overly drunk, but that couldn't be said for Dusty and his brother. By the time 11 o'clock rolled around, the two of them were three sheets to the wind, something the rest of us always found amusing. 

"N-nah… i-its like this… I'm the better of us… Cause I'm older…" Ash drunkenly mumbled, the topic of who was the better brother having come up thanks to a comment Blastpipe had made about who he could tolerate more, sending the two sloshed fireponies into the world's slowest agreement. 

"L-like that fuckin counts…. You've only got me by… t-two years… I-im the better one… C-cause I'm the youngest HG-10 firepony… E-ever…" 

Ash fell back against the booth laughing, "T-thats only because… y-you’re like… married to Fire Stoker..!" 

"F-fuck you! He's not even… my type…" Dusty grumbled before his head fell to the table, his brain unable to keep up with what was going on anymore. 

"Are they always like this?" Hazard asked with a chuckle, as Ash fell forward and joined his brother head down on the table, having not seen the two drinking together many times before. 

"Anytime the two of em get drinkin together." Blow Torch said with a nod and a chuckle of his own. 

Blastpipe leaned back and put a hoof behind his head, "At least we can get a little peace from these two now. Honestly Stokes, I don't know how you can put up with Coal Dust sometimes, especially after all these years." 

I let out a low laugh before finishing off my second drink, "He can get on my nerves sometimes, especially if he gets some wild hair up his ass over something. But he's still good cab company, most of the time." The rest of the table joined me in a laugh as we let the two drunk fireponies enjoy a good bar nap. 

At this point I was feeling decently buzzed and was thinking about calling it a night and closing out my tab, seeing as it was nearly midnight, when the door to the bar opened and a mare's voice cut through the din of the crowd. 

"Hey come on, give a gal some room! I don't have all night like the rest of you!" 

It was a voice that I knew well, and was surprised to hear, "Is that Red Hot?" I muttered to the group before turning around. 

Sure enough, just making her way up to the bar was the new night shift supervisor of Tall Tale's backshop. “If you want any of your engines ready on time you’ll give me some damn room!” 

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her threat as I turned to look over at Blow Torch. "What's she doing here? Isn't she on shift right now?" 

Torch gave a little nod as he took a pull off his cider, “Eeyup, she gets Mondays and Tuesdays off so she can watch over the service of the high pressure twins. Comes here for lunch breaks once in ‘while, since this is the only place near the yard that’s open this late on weekends, and serves food.” 

I nodded my understanding as I glanced back to see Heat Temper had made it up to the bar finally and was putting in an order and taking possession of what I had to assume was a non-alcoholic cider. “Makes sense, I have to imagine working the night shift on the weekend can be rough.” 

Blow Torch shrugged, “Eh, ain’t so bad. Basically get left 'lone to just do your work with the skelly crew. Makes it perfect for a training shift. Temper seems to take to it well ‘nough.” 

“She definitely does good work, has the crew of hers running like a well greased engine.” Crank Shaft said with a nod. 

I turned back to look at her again just in time for her to get her food and move off to a “quieter” spot in the bar on the other side of the building. 

“I-is Stokes tryin… to eye up R-red’s flank again…?” 

I jumped a bit in surprise hearing Dusty’s alcohol coated voice speak up from the table behind me, turning to glare at him with a small rose in my cheeks. In the process I didn’t notice the others at the table, minus a still passed out Ash Pan, trying to hold in their laughter. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be passed out right now?” I asked angrily. 

Dusty would start to drunkenly cackle as his head rolled on the table. “Y-you totally were!” 

The others finally couldn’t hold it as Blastpipe, Crank Shaft, Blow Torch, and Hazard all broke out into laughter themselves. I did the only logical thing in response, let out a deep angry huff, and downed the last half of my cider and motioned to one of the bar staff for another. 

The laughter continued for a minute before Crack Shaft finally got ahold of himself a bit, “Come on Stokes, it’s no secret you got the hots for Red.” 

“Since when do I have the hots for her?” I grumbled back. 

“Have you not noticed how the two of you act around each other? The flirting is so obvious. If you started hanging around the back shop during the weekends instead of trying to sleep for two days straight, they’d have to start locking tool closets.” Blast shot back, causing the others at the table to break out in laughter again. 

Meanwhile I’m shocked by the implication that I’d sneak off to play seven minutes in heaven with Heat Temper in a tool room on shift. 

“You have a seriously fucked up mind sometimes Blast.” 

He just shrugged while continuing to laugh, “Just call it as I see it bro.” 

Blow Torch kept up with his trademark low-slow chuckles before he turned to me and gave an honest smile, “Ain’t nothing wrong with ‘mitting it Stokes. Temper is a damn good mare, two of ya would make a fine couple.” 

I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh as my new cider showed up, which I quickly took a long swig from before speaking, “Alright, maybe I have thought about being in a relationship with her.” 

“hehehehe…. Maaaaaaaybe he says…..” 

“Shut the hell up Dusty, get another shot or something.” 

“D-don’t threaten me… W-with a good time…” 

“Uuuugh, whatever. Point I’m trying to get at is that while I do like the idea of the two of us together, I know it won’t work out no matter how well we click. I mean think about it guys, the two days a week I get off are her two busiest days, I’m constantly stuck out of town, and what little downtime I have as you’ve already pointed out is spent trying to catch up on sleep or keeping my bunk in good shape. How the hell could I possibly make something like that work?” 

The table went quiet for a little bit before to my surprise, Hazard spoke up, “That’s really your excuse?” 

I blinked in surprise, “What?” 

"Stokes, I’ve been with my mare over a year.” 

“I know, we discussed this earlier. I don’t see what…” 

“The point is? Do you know how many nights I’ve actually gotten to spend with her? Somewhere in the ballpark of fifty. She’s constantly out of town and, just like you, I’m almost always asleep when off shift. And you know what? We’re both still happy with the relationship because we care so much for each other. We might not get to see each other as much as either of us like, but we make the most of it when we can get together. If you really want a relationship with Heat Temper to work, you’ll find a way to make it work.” 

I sat there and thought about that for a little bit as I kept taking pulls off my cider. Hazard made a damn good point, if I wanted to make things work with Red Hot, I’d find a way to make it happen. I mean hell, I’d found a way to survive all the nobles’ plots to take me out and still live a normal life up until those last two months! I could make a relationship with a hot mare work! 

Not even noticing that I was beginning to fall under the influence of liquid confidence, I looked back up at all of them with a smirk, “You know what, you’re right. I need to stop being a little bitch about this and just give things a shot, better than just sitting around thinking about what could be.” 

Blast and Crank both gave a holler, “Atta colt Stokes! That’ll put those rumors of you and Dusty going at it in 66’s cab to rest.” 

“F-fuck you C-crank… H-how many times… I g-gotta say it… Not my type…” Coal Dust grumbled, face now once again firmly planted into the tabletop. 

Choosing to once again ignore my smashed off his ass firepony, I leaned back against the back of the booth and relaxed as I got my third drink down to the half full mark without even noticing. “I’ll have to see if I can try and float the topic to her when I pick up #9366 Monday morning.” 

That statement was immediately followed by a loud groan from Blastpipe as he scraped his hooves across his face. “Come on, you were doing so good.” 

I cocked an eyebrow at him, “The hell that supposed to mean?” 

“You’re going to try to ask Red out on a date when you pick your engine up? When she’ll be just about to get off a long and stressful shift, just as you’re about to disappear for the week again? Come on Stokes you should know that’ll just end in a shit show.” 

“Well then when am I supposed to ask?” 

Instead of immediately responding, Blast just pointed across the bar to the little corner where Heat Temper was sitting in front of one of the windows looking out at the railyard eating her lunch, “She’s sitting over there right now, on her own and about to head back to the madhouse that is the backshops on the weekend. Why don’t you buck up with some of that liquid courage you’re chugging and go give her a reason to have a good night.” 

I couldn’t help but stare wide eyed as I looked between Blast and where Heat Temper was sitting, “What, right now? When I’m half drunk and she just wants to be left alone to relax for a little bit? How could that be any better? Come on guys back me up on this.” I said as I looked around at the other stallions at the table. 

Hazard just shrugged and returned to his own drink, Crank Shaft bounced his eyebrows at me and just motioned his head towards Red, and Blow Torched chuckled again, “Couldn’t hurt.”

I sat there staring at all of them until Coal Dust, still face down, started beating his hooves on the table, “Do it, do it, do it, do it.” 

Somehow that woke his brother up, and though not knowing the context, Ash started beating his hooves against the padding of the booth, “Do it, do it, do it, do it.” 

The two kept this up for a good thirty seconds before finally, I cracked. “Alright, fine! But one of you two is covering my tab!” 

"Worth it…” Dusty grumbled as he held his hoof up in victory. 

Rolling my eyes I picked my mug up again and quickly drained the rest of it in one go, before letting out a long suffering sigh as I got my nerve back and stood up. Tuning out any further jeering that came from the booth before it even started, I slowly made my way through the tightly packed crowd of ponies and over towards where Heat Temper was sitting. 

I could feel my heart rate starting to speed up as I got closer, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to settle myself as I got close up behind her. 

“Whoever it is, I don’t know what the status of your engine is. Come in and check tomorrow with the morning crew like you’re supposed to.” Heat Temper grumbled over her shoulder without even looking up from her food. 

I couldn’t help but chuckle hearing that, “How many times has that happened to have that statement locked on retainer?” 

I saw her sit back a bit at the sound of my voice before she turned to look at me, “Oh, Fire Stoker, nice to see you again.” Her face then turned into a scowl, but having known Red for as long as I had, I could see the smirk in her eyes, “Same goes for you, 66 hadn’t even finished fully cooling down yet when I left.” 

I had to laugh at that, “Well it’s a good thing that I’m not over here to bug you about that then.” 

She scowled at me a little longer before she cracked a smile again and let out a laugh of her own. “Yeah, I had a feeling, you're better than that. Couldn't miss the opportunity though.” She then turned around to face me fully while leaning back against the outcrop her plate was on. “Been a minute since we been able to chat, how’s things? Killed Dusty yet?” 

I laughed again as I leaned my side against the outcrop, “You’re as bad as Blast and Crank sometimes I swear. As annoying as he can be, no I have not yet resorted to murder to get some peace in the cab. Been pretty normal all things considered. Had a coupler stretch on us when we went to leave Vanhoover last week, besides that, business as usual on The Olde Grade.” 

She smirked and shook her head, “I will never understand how you can run the same piece of track day in and day out and enjoy it as much as you do.” 

I responded with a little shrug, “It can be boring sometimes sure, but I honestly don’t mind. Besides if I switched over to run a different route, I wouldn’t be able to drive #9366, and I’ll be damned if I hoof over her throttle to anypony else before I retire.” 

I smiled a little as she broke down in a fit of giggles, “Yeah, I guess I can’t blame you there, after being kicked out of her cab for four years.” 

She then happened to look past me to a clock that was hanging above the bar itself. “Ah shit it’s that late already? Thanks for the good laugh Stokes but I left some paperwork on my desk in the shop that I didn’t get to before lunch. I should get back and take care of it before I get buried in the twins.” She said before getting down from her stool. 

She was about to walk past me for the door, until I put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her before she could get away. “Hey, before you leave, I did come over here to ask a question originally.” 

Her eyebrow raised at me, “Oh? Well if it isn’t about your baby, what’s up.” 

I had to keep myself from shutting my eyes as I took a deep breath to steady myself one final time before I just dove in and did it, “Well, I know you’re booked up for the weekend with the high pressure twins needing their services and all, and I’ll be back to the road on Monday, but I was wondering if maybe you’d like to catch a meal with me sometime.” 

Heat Temper just stood there and stared at me in surprise, causing my heart rate to quickly sky rocket as my brain started imaging how many dozens of ways I had just fucked up, when she spoke. “Mr. Fire Stoker, are you asking me, out on a date?” 

I couldn’t help the smile on my face tensing with nerves, “Yeah, I suppose I am.” 

She stood there in silence again for a good fifteen seconds, and just as I was about to start apologizing profusely, a wide smirk crossed her face and she let out a little chuckle again, “Heh, took you damn long enough.” 

I’m sure my face was absolutely priceless, “Is, is that a yes?” 

That was when she broke down in near hysterical laughter, “Of course it’s a yes you coal brained railrider. Faust you might be a genius when it comes to railroading but sometimes I swear you lost smarts in everything else. I had been hoping you’d ask for like, three months now.” 

Increasing the value of my already priceless face, I stumbled over my words, “You had? Why didn’t you come up and say something to me first?” 

She shrugged as she started to move towards the door again, me falling in right next to her, “Just never really had an opportunity for the topic to come up. Not like our paths cross all that often even with me being in Tall Tale now.” 

It was finally my turn to chuckle as my nerves finally started to fade away, “That’s honestly why I hadn’t said anything. Our schedules don’t really overlap that much so I didn’t think it would really work out.” 

She just sighed and shook her head with a little smile on her face as we got up to the door, “Classic Stokes, overthinking everything. I think Coal Dust is rubbing off on you.” 

“According to Crank, you aren’t the only one.” 

Apparently she had heard the rumor I was referring to and broke out laughing again, “Yeah, Ash says some wild stuff when he gets smashed sometimes.” 

My eyes quickly narrowed, “Oh it was Ash who was saying it huh? Hadn’t heard that part. He’s waking up in his name sake tomorrow.” 

She laughed a little again before patting me on the shoulder, “If you need any help, just let me know. I’ll leave a cooled cleanout pan in the roundhouse when I get back.” 

“I appreciate it. So, uhm, brunch on Sunday before you go on shift sound good?” 

She gave me one of the few proper, genuine smiles I had seen on her up to that point along with a little nod, “I’d like that a lot.” 

She then pushed the door open to leave before turning back to me one last time, “Oh, a little parting gift for you.” 

She then leaned in and planted a kiss right on my lips. 

I was honestly shocked, but would soon return it for the few seconds it lasted. As my brain floated around on cloud nine, I didn’t notice her smile change to her typical cheeky smirk, or how her eyes scanned the area behind me, “Enjoy the rest of your night.” She said with a wink before making her way out of the door and down the road back towards the roundhouse. 

It was at that point I took notice of her tone right before she left, and the fact that the bar had all but gone silent. Fearing what I'd find, I slowly turned around to find every, single, pony, in the bar staring at me. Apparently me asking Heat Temper out had become the night's entertainment, and all had stopped to watch me once I started chatting with her. 

Would later learn ponies had been betting on when I would buck up and finally ask her out because I was apparently the last one to learn this was a relationship waiting to happen. 

“Woooooo you fuckin go Stokes!” Ash Pan yelled from our booth, quickly restarting the bar as ponies cheered, raised their glasses to me, and slapped me on the back. 

I groaned loudly as I deathglared Ash from across the bar, “He’s waking up at the bottom of that cleanout pan.” I grumbled to myself before pushing through the crowd towards the bar, knowing I was going to need a lot more alcohol to get through the rest of the night.





“Wait, that’s the big payoff of the story? You asked Mom out and she kissed you in front of the whole bar? That’s it? I was expecting a story about some specific night out bar crawling to end with some big all out bar fight.” 

I couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh at my son’s statement. The two of us were relaxing back at home, enjoying a few glasses of whiskey ourselves, just the two of us. Heat Temper was off at work in the shops and Hot Box Jr. was running a midnight local freight to Hoofington, leaving me and my namesake son to enjoy some rare to come by one on one time. 

“Yeah I can see the ending being a bit of a let down if that was what you were expecting me to lead up to, but truth be told there weren’t a lot of big bar fights, at least ones that I was there for. Most of the time it was just two or three ponies going at it ‘cause somepony said something to somepony they shouldn’t have, one of those somponies typically being Crankshaft. Nope, not many big bar fights, well except that one time, but that’s a story for later.” 

Stokey chuckled as leaned in and grabbed the half filled bottle of Old Warrior No7 sitting on the table and refilled his glass. “Well, come on then Pops, you always tell stories like that at a certain time for a reason, what’s the reason behind this one?” 

I chuckled softly as he passed me the bottle and I topped off my own glass, “Alright you got me, there is a reason why I told this story now.” 

“Like I said, there always is.” 

“Well at least you’re finally catching on. I told you this story because you’re in a near identical situation to what I found myself in all those years ago.” 

Stokey arched an eyebrow at me, looking as if he was about to say something, but I beat him to the bunch, “Morning Star.” 

I was just able to hold in a chuckle as my son's cheeks took on a distinctly red tone. "Star's just a friend dad." 

"So was your mom to me until I bucked up the courage to ask her out. Don't lie to me Stokey, I can tell you want to be more than just friends with her." 

Stokey let out a sigh as he looked down at his hooves, before taking a sip from his glass. "Alright, yeah, you got me. I really like Morning Star. But she's never showed that kind of interest in me." 

I smiled softly at him, "Well you'll never know if you don't try. I know you don't want to say anything to her because you don't want to ruin that friendship the two of you have. I understand, it was the same thing with me and your mother, but just take a second to think it over. Is it really better to just sit around constantly thinking about how nice things would be, and never take that chance to see if they could really work out?" 

He sighed again and swished the liquor around in his glass, "I know. Hot Box and the others have told me the same thing. I just, just don't know how to broach the topic to her without it coming out weird." 

That time I couldn't hold in a long chuckle, "Yeah, not surprising. Old family curse that is, one of several. Same thing happened with your grandfather, and your great grandpa only got saved because he accidentally let it spill when he was black out drunk at the bar one night. Little piece of advice son, it isn't worth waiting around for the perfect moment to pop up, there's no such thing. Plus, wait too long and you could lose the chance all together. Just gotta find the right words to say, and go for it. Or just get black out drunk and let the whiskey do the work for you, worked for Hotbox." 

Stokey sighed again, but eventually a small smile graced his face, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks dad." 

I smiled wide and gave him a nod, "Anytime kiddo, it's what I'm here for." 

I then leaned back in my recliner and took a pill from my own glass. "Now, you still wanna hear that big bar fight story, don't ya?" 

His face lit up bright as a hearthswarming tree real quick, "Abso-fuckin-lutely." 

I let out a good long laugh as I got myself comfortable again, "Hahaha, well alright then. This happened back before our little issue with the nobles. I was barely 22 at the time and was just really starting to get into the swing of things running ol '66 over The Grade. Me and the crew had the whole weekend off so the lot of us had stacked up in the bar the second we clocked off shift, intending to burn half a week's pay in one go by the way we were knocking them back."