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The bar was full of customers. There were no free tables. Louis looked around and wondered how such a crowd could accommodate in an institution. The apple had nowhere to fall. From their appearance, he knew that the visitors were not from this area. It was hard to believe that they were from neighboring villages or nearby cities. Most of them were dressed somehow atypically for the present times, and many spoke in unfamiliar languages and strange dialects, and often used long-outdated words. Then it turned out that most of them are not French at all and their native language is different, hence the strong accent. It also looked interesting that among the visitors there were both representatives of the working classes – blacksmiths, grocers, fishermen, carpenters, butchers and other commoners, as well as people from the upper classes – nobles, merchants, close aristocratic families and even those who looked like boyars or patricians of the distant past.
Now it was a completely different place. It didn’t seem to Louis as nice and peaceful as it had looked yesterday. There was an atmosphere in the bar that he did not like at all. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible, and if he did return, it would be solely to repay the bartender. This place made him feel intense discomfort, so strong that he even forgot about the loss. How could such different people gather in one place, and even sit with each other at the same table and talk heart to heart over a glass? Rich with rich, poor with poor. It had always been that way, and what Louis’ eyes saw, any normal person would have considered unnatural and wrong. This is contrary to the established norms of society. But in some incomprehensible way, nevertheless, these persons coexist quite harmoniously within the same premises and, it seems, neither one nor the other is in any hurry to leave the building or at least somehow protect themselves from representatives of another class.
In the village where Louis lives, there are no rich people and they are not treated with respect. Each villager imagined a wealthy person as the result of doing business in which there is no place for decency and justice, but only selfishness and greed.
Be that as it may, he decided that he should return home as soon as possible.
– Um… – Louis drawled as he walked up to the counter, squeezing between two customers – Albert?
– Yes?
– Thank you for yesterday. If you don’t mind, I’ll go home and bring the money in by tonight.
– Oh, sure.
It was noisy all around. Everyone was talking about something. At a table in the corner, four people took turns playing backgammon for elimination. A couple of tables gathered those who were puzzled by the search for answers to the questions of the universe, the existence of a certain balance regarding karma for misdeeds, which expresses human freedom, where lies the line between the forbidden and the permitted, and other philosophical topics. Among the rest were those who washed down grief with the cheapest alcohol; someone diligently read something; at the foot of the stairs, a couple of moderately sober and very brave clients suddenly had an insight that it was time to sort things out, but not with empty chatter, but exclusively in a fistfight with an admixture of strabismus under the influence of a liter of bourbon. There were also those who threw the dice, after which the loser drank one hundred grams from a personal bottle that stood near the glass, and the winner was the one who had more contents in the bottle.
A real amber of cognac, wine, vodka, whiskey, beer, absinthe, rum and much more was carried throughout the bar, which was quickly drowned out by visitors. This place looked like a bottomless realm of alcohol.
On the approaches to the exit, a mustachioed German with a heavy belly appeared in front of Louis. He smelled strongly of beer, especially when he let out a powerful belch the moment he opened the door.
No matter how different all the visitors were, they all had one thing in common – they constantly drank, and most of them did this until sober reason left their mind for a while, and the next day it would again be executed.
Louis climbed out, down the stairs, and through the woods in the opposite direction from the village front.
He walked a hundred meters, as a silhouette began to emerge in front of his eyes. As he approached, he saw the outline of the FREE DRINK FOR YOUR SOULS establishment.
I didn’t turn anywhere – Louis thought.
He circled the building and again went in the same direction.
Five minutes passed and the same bar appeared in front of him. So he continued to wander through the forest for about half an hour, each time bumping into a bar.
For a moment, Louis thought that maybe he was doing something wrong and decided to approach two visitors sitting on the steps of the entrance stairs – bearded and smelly owners of beer belly. They were still quite sober, or at least seemed to be.
Louis leaned over two gentlemen dressed in stained, neither dirt nor soot shirts and asked:
– Gentlemen, could you help? I left the bar and went straight west twice already, but for some reason I still came back here. You do not know in which direction you need to go to get on the trail?
Two pot-bellied and clumsy strangers only laughed out loud in response. They nearly busted their chubby bellies, as if someone had told them a joke.
Louis considered this reaction to his question an insult, but he did not even speak about it to their faces. He was of a different culture with them.
He approached a lady of about thirty-five, who was standing at the railing, dressed in a severe crimson dress, as if she was preparing for some kind of masquerade ball.
– Madam, I’m sorry. Could you help?
– Of course.
– You do not know how to get to the road, otherwise I…
Louis did not have time to finish, as a cultured-looking lady answered in a rather sharp form:
– If you want to make fun of someone, then have a conscience, do not do this with a woman.
You’re all crazy here, right? What a lunatic!?
Louis hurried inside. Albert will answer his question exactly. Maybe he’s the only one here who still has his brains in place.
He walked up to the bar and called out:
– Albert?
The bartender turned his polite gaze on him.
– Oh, Louis. Already?
– Albert, tell me why…
He did not have time to finish, as the bartender handed him a piece of paper with some notes. There were the names of the drinks that Louis had drunk the day before, and next to each name was the number of days. A line was drawn at the bottom, and under it the final figure was 3 days.
– What is this? Louis asked in disbelief.
– This is your loan, Louis – nonchalantly replied the bartender. – You will leave here only when you pay off your loan to the institution.
– But I said that I would just go home and bring everything in by the evening.
– No, no – said Albert, leaning towards Louis. I’m afraid you misunderstood. Our visitors do not leave the establishment until their debt to the establishment is repaid. The cost of each drink is determined by days. The price of what you drank yesterday is one day per glass. Therefore, after 3 days, you will no longer owe anything to the establishment and will be able to leave these walls only if you do not want to buy another drink.
What is heresy? Louis was displeased.
– It would look like heresy if I told you from the very beginning that you cannot leave here and wherever you go, all roads will still lead back. And so, you yourself are convinced of everything.
After some thought and silence, Louis said in a somewhat reserved tone, keeping a stony expression on his face:
What did you put on me yesterday?
– Monsieur Morel, – leaning his hands on the bar, Albert began to explain, while the customers sitting on opposite sides of Louis stared dead at him, not looking up from their glasses, – no one, no one, and nothing is mixed here. There is no place for cheating and cheating. You are sane and you are not sleeping. What happened is an absolute reality and in the next three days you will have to believe in it, whether you like it or not. So welcome to our establishment.
With these words, Albert continued to wipe the glasses.
From the feeling that everyone here is mocking him, Louis got angry and ran out of the bar. He ran away with all his might, passing fallen leaves and tall tree trunks. And again. As soon as he noticed how the silhouette of the bar began to appear before his eyes, he immediately changed direction, but each time the point of stay remained the same. For the thirteenth time.
He ran inside, grabbed a half-filled glass of beer from a nearby table, and threw it straight at the bartender. The glass flew through Albert’s unconcerned face and crashed into the rear shelves, breaking a couple of glass bottles.
Now Louis felt like he was in hell.
Welcome to the FREE DRINKS FOR YOUR SOULS bar. Who knows, maybe people in this place really sold their souls for a glass of excellent alcohol?
Louis felt a great impotence inside and, in despair, dropped to his knees like a stone, covering his face with his hands.
3. STUPID DILEMA
Overcoming weakness in his legs, Louis tore his back from the pine tree, where he had been sitting for the fifth hour. All this time, his mind was listening against its own will to drunken voices coming from a damned diner filled with dozens of brainless drunks. They weren’t interested in anything other than drinking. All of them drank themselves to such an extent that in their appearance, as well as in their behavior, there will soon be nothing left that could even remotely resemble a person.
Louis reluctantly returned to… His steps broke off on the outskirts of the terrace. The lady was still standing there, from whom Louis heard a defiant answer to his question. He approached her again, and this time he had completely different questions in his head.
– Sorry.
– Yes?
After a long pause, Louis said what he felt was more necessary for this middle-aged woman not to refuse to associate with him:
– I want to apologize if I offended you in any way. I… I…
– No. It’s you who excuse me.
This answer surprised Louis.
The stranger continued:
– I should have guessed right away that you were here for the first day.
By the way, my name is Louis.
The lady held out her hand, which was wearing a pearl bracelet.
– Justine.
Louis kissed her hand.
– Justine, do you mind if I talk to you about what’s going on here?
– What are you. Finding a sober interlocutor here is a rarity. So I will only be glad to your company.
Louis thought for a long time about where to start. Leaning against the railing, like Justine, he began to ask:
– Who is the bartender?
– He serves visitors – Justine answered with a grin.
– No-no. Who is he…
Stumbling, Louis continued after a few seconds.
– …just, you see, out of anger, I threw a glass at him, and he flew through him. Honestly. I saw it with my own eyes.
– I believe. You’re not the first person to throw a glass at Albert. But everyone who tries to do this immediately gets scared when they see all these mystical tricks.
– Fine. Where is he from?
– Nobody knows. However, as well as where this bar is located.
– What do you have in mind? Louis was surprised. Are we not in France?
– Well, we are French. I guess Albert is also, well, somewhat French, and speaks the same language with all customers, so that over time, all visitors begin to understand each other. And in this sense, we are lucky. But there are many who are from other lands. And they’ve never been to France. They also stumbled upon this establishment in some deserted place late in the evening, and the next morning they have already become guests of this establishment, which does not stand in one place. There are Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Greeks, Dutch, Flemings, Germans, Scandinavians, Persians. There is no one among the guests.
Immediately, Louis asked the following question:
– I noticed that no one orders food. Everyone drinks, but no one eats. What is the reason?
– This is another feature of the bar. Albert’s place is very mysterious. There is something here that saves a person from hunger and disease. You can drink as much as you want and you won’t experience any problems from it. Even with a hangover in the morning, no one encounters here.
Louis was now asking questions indiscriminately one after another.
– Here all drinks are paid and increase… um…
– Credit – suggested Justine.
– Yes, credit. This is true?
– Yes.
– But if it makes it impossible for them to leave here, why are they drinking more?» Don’t they want to see their home as soon as possible?
– Soon you will know something about this place. And then, perhaps, you also want to increase your debt to the institution.
– But I do not why.
– Well, at least because for some this place eventually turns into a real paradise. You drink all you want and you can stay here for all eternity. No one will judge you for drinking from morning to evening.
– And you? You obviously don’t intend to stay here, do you? And that’s why you don’t drink. It is so?
– Maybe. However, I myself don’t know what I want yet – Justine answered with a heavy sigh.
– And how did you get here?
– That day my husband and I went to our estate near Paris. A few years earlier, we had lost our only child. Not without a tremble in her voice, Justine continued: «My boy was only eight. I could not decide to have another one, because I was afraid that we would lose him too. For this, my husband hated me and began to change. He walked to the fullest, dragging one or the other into bed. Justine said these words with some anger. – In a word, he behaved like a male, who only has to see a bitch, as he immediately rushes to mate. And on the day when we arrived at our estate, I went to the stable. I didn’t even get to cross the threshold. He was fucking a servant right in the hay, who moaned like a street whore. Then she looked at Louis. – He despised me so much that he did not disdain to have intercourse even with the servants. This was the last straw. Hate was eating me up from the inside. I went where my eyes look. It must have been two hours, at least. I went out to some hill where I had never been before. There was a bar there. Albert was very polite.
– And how much did you owe when you found out about everything?
This was followed by unhealthy laughter from Justine.
– The funny thing is that I never drank anything but wine of many years of aging. I drank one of the most expensive wines all evening and thought about how I would return, pack my things and leave this bastard. The wine was so expensive that in a couple of hours my credit grew to 52 days. And when I realized that there was nowhere to go, I began to drink in order to indulge in oblivion and not think about it. But it only made things worse. Credit grew with every glass. I owe the establishment 632 days.
– And how much is left? Louis asked carefully.
– I haven’t checked with Albert for a long time. But somewhere a couple of hundred or so.
