JACK ROSE
JACK ROSE
By Anthony Schiavino
Jack Rose was known for his grenadine red shirts and applejack green ties. His demeanor was straight up; never icy. He was a good guy; a good conversationalist. He’d size up a room in a heartbeat, picking out all the cherries and all the lemon drops, and use them all to his advantage.
That’s essentially Jack Rose, although simplifying him like that does him a disservice. At the end of the day you were on one side or on the other. Jack rubbed on you whether you wanted him to or not. At the end of the night you were one of two ways: coherent and friendly, or rambling and bitter. Most times, a meeting with Jack left you lying face down in a bed or an alley. He made love, if you’d call it that, to countless women and gave skull-splitting headaches to far too many men through the years.
It was a job, sure, but it was who he was. He’d get them going and once they were good and sauced they’d start singing. By the time they were done he’d get what he came for. It could’ve been worse. Half of them probably deserved a dirt nap so if they woke up the next day at all… well that says something of Jack’s merciful constitution, doesn’t it?
Some people think Jack Rose caused too many problems over the years. While that may be true, I would argue that he also solved far more of them. He opened up people’s eyes to what was going on. He made them accept themselves, for better or worse, and gave them a train ticket out of it if they so desired. I never once, not one single time, saw him threaten or cajole or force them into doing something they didn’t want to do.
It was a different time and era. This was back in the 20s and 30s. Some people called Jack Rose “old fashioned” but that was far from the case. It was quite the opposite actually. He was a man of his time, all high class and seemingly prim and proper, but there was a dirty side to him. It was just hidden underneath all that spit shine. His blood ran red like the rest of us.
Jack Rose isn’t dead. He’s still around. You just don’t see him much anymore. He’s not hiding, but every generation gets lost in the shuffle of the new one. Some new tough guy comes along thinking his grit is a little grittier and he can get the job done quicker. Some of them can take you down with one punch, lay you up in the hospital for a while. They’re just a bunch of see-through muscle out causing trouble for the sake of.
That’s when you see Jack Rose appear in the back of the room having the time of his life with some femme fatale. He’ll just crack a smile and raise his cocktail glass in your direction.
500 words of flash fiction for Chuck Wendig’s terribleminds.
JACK ROSE (C) 2011 Anthony Schiavino.
Jack Rose
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Liked this one a lot. Very smooth.
The pace is nice. I love the visuals grenadine and applejack green. My favorite so far.
that was so good! I’m licking my lips for more!
Thanks for the kind words everyone! I’ve never actually tried this drink but I just might now.
Yeah, that was awesome. Jack seems like a very interesting fellow and also a very interesting cocktail.
I can definitely see writing this guy as a full blown character. For me he seems to be in that Nick Charles (The Thin Man) vein. Maybe I’ll do something with him one day. You know if anyone wants to read about a guy who drinks a lot among other things.
Ha! I see what you did there . . clever! Smoothly integrated description- you could even do a list of cocktail characters.
Originally it was going to be a eulogy but then I thought…hey he’s not dead. In some dark corner of a smokey club somebody has to be drinking it.
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