We sat at one of these tables along the wall, each with hamburger, a full pint and a single pitcher of ale in the middle.
I raised my glass. “Here’s to your first shoot as a designer, and yours as a model!” I cheered over the ever constant murmur of the crowd.
They both smiled wide, holding up their glasses as we clinked them together and took a deep swig.
“Wow!” Mom exclaimed, “That’s strong! What is it?” She indicated to the beer.
“It’s an IPA, Mom,” Kelly stated wiping her lips of suds. “It’s a strong beer so go easy.”
Mom seemed to scoff. “Oh please, I’ve been drinking since before you were born.”
“Okay… Just warning you,” Kelly backed down.
We turned our eyes back to the bar. Though it was Friday, it seemed pretty active for this early in the evening. The other two must have been having the same thought.
“It seems a bit packed for a dive bar to you?” Kelly asked.
Mom looked around, holding with two hands a monster sized hamburger. “I’m not sure. Never been here before,” she said before taking a monster sized bite.
I was about to say the same when I spotted a slightly overweight bearded man in a plaid shirt grab a microphone. He held in his other hand a well used notebook, corners bent and darkened.
“Ladies and Gentlemen it is that time of the week!” The announcer’s voice reverberated throughout the pub to scattered hoots, hollers and applauds.
“Oh shit, is it karaoke?” Kelly groaned.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so…”
Mom and Kelly looked at me quizzically.
“Trivia Night.” I said as I pulled out a pen and pad of paper from our condiment stand.
“It’s Friday night Trivia!” our bearded friend confirmed. He sounded like he was announcing a boxing match. “Make sure each team has a pen and paper. Four members per team. No cell phones, tablets, laptops, or any item that takes batteries. Twenty questions in all. Tie breaker goes to the best team name by applause.”
“We doing this?” Kelly asked as I flipped to a blank page.
“Sure,” I said. “Why not? It’ll be fun. You down, Mom?”
“Mm-hmmm” she said while finishing off her meaty sandwich.
“Jesus, Mom!” Kelly exclaimed in disbelief. “You destroyed that thing.”
“Momma was hungry,” she said licking the sauce off her fingers.
“You don’t say…” I mumbled in slight disbelief.
“Question number one,” he bellowed. “What famous…”
I’d like to say we decimated the competition, but to be honest with you, I have yet to go to a trivia night at any bar and say “Wow, that was easy.” Luckily, between the three of us, we at least played to our strengths. We felt pretty solid on thirteen out of twenty, and were shooting for the moon on the rest.
“So we feel good on this?” I asked handing the sheet to Kelly for her review. She glanced over the answers.
“As good as we’ll ever be. Mom?” She handed it to her.
She just smiled and held up her hand signaling ‘okay’.
“Okay then… Shit! We need a team name!” I exclaimed.
“Just put ‘Team Awesome’ or something,” said Kelly.
“Wow, seriously?” I looked at her. “I’m trying not to be an asshole and all here but that is probably the lamest team name I’ve ever heard.”