A LUCILIUS PARABLE: GOT THIS

March 3rd, 2019

Lucilius was sitting at a bar reading, when he was joined by one of the very best of friends.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“No sweat,” Lucilius said and smiled, turning to his friend.  The two embraced and sat for an evening together.

“So how goes it with the new job?”  Lucilius asked.

“Putting in extra hours everyday.”

“They pay you for that?”

“Nah, they can barely pay me regularly right now, but we’re working on something interesting that I think we’ll work.  I could make more somewhere else like at my last job, but I think this could work out more in the long-term.”

“That’s exciting.  Wine or what do you feel like?  Cocktail?”

Lucilius’ friend looked around at the bar.

“What do you recommend?”

When the barman came around to take their order, Lucilus inquired: “Can you make a Last word with a heavy dash of Absinthe and grapefruit, easy on the Maraschino?”

The barman nodded.  “Sure, sounds tasty.”

The two friends caught up while they waited and when the drinks arrived they both fell silent, tasting in communion. 

“Nice,” Lucilius’ friend commented.  Lucilius smiled and as they tasted again in silence, they overhead as two ladies paid up their bill next to them.

“Ok, so you’ll owe me 12.67 for next time, ok?”

“Sure, yea, sorry about that.”

Lucilius and company tried to take in the situation discretely.  The barman wore a strained expression as he processed the payment for the young lady and when the women had left he looked at the two guys and shrugged his shoulders.

Lucilius’ friend turned back and said, “reminds me: I know exactly the moment when I knew we would be good friends.”

“What was that?” Lucilius asked.

“One of the first times we hung out we went to a convenience store and when we were at the cashier, I pulled out my wallet and you just waved your hand and said ‘I got this’.”

“Really?  That’s interesting.”

“Yea, everyone around here keeps such weird tallies like those girls and it drives me nuts.”

Lucilius shrugged, “eh I never really thought about it.  What goes around comes around, I guess.”

“Ha, yea, I wonder what that girl’s got coming her way.”

“Apparently 12.67”

The two laughed and moved on to more interesting topics, talking late into the night.  As they were wrapping up, Lucilius’ friend excused himself to the bathroom and Lucilius took the chance to get the barman’s attention.

“You mind if I get the bill for the both of us?”

“Too slow McFly, your buddy already got it.”

Lucilius smiled. 

“Son of a bitch.”