Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → A conversation between Harry and Lee | Fictional Story

11/15/2015
Sir Legendary

Would a smart man win against a wise man in chess? - Part 1

"Two cups of coffee please."
"How would you like them?"
"What kind of aura do I give out?"
"Right away, Harry!"

The waitress walked away.

Harry entered his regular coffee shop. He was on a tall stool and occupied the table that faced the large window, he always sat there, and everybody knew it. The regulars wouldn't sit there because they knew Harry and Lee always sat there. If a another customer sat there, he or she would be asked to sit somewhere else by the waitress. The staff knew them pretty well, including the musicians who performed here.

On that seat, harry could see the cars passing by behind the parked cars next to the sidewalk on a sunny afternoon. There was a guitarist on the stage, singing old blues music by Elvis, the kind that made Harry think about how the world was treating you. He took his phone out from his front-left pocket, his keys from his back-left pocket, his wallet from his back-right pocket, and put them on the table. His front left pocket always contained a box of cigarettes and his favorite lighter which he acquired from Lee when they were young.

Lee walked in. The entrance was exactly on the left of where Harry was sitting.

"Am I late or am I early?"
Lee noticed the coffee was either not yet served, or had already been taken away.
Harry half-smiled.
"I guess I'm early because your things are on the table and not the box. Also you don't smell like a chimney burning tobacco yet." Lee smiled as he shot his remarks at Harry.

Lee took off his coat and placed it on the chair on Harry's left, then sat down on that very same chair. As he did so, the coffee arrived.

"Black as your heart, Harry."
"You wouldn't know." He scoffed at the waitress as she giggled walking away.

"That Sarah, she knows." Lee said, as he took a sip from his coffee. Unlike harry's, his was more like milk than it was coffee. About only ten percent of his drink was actual coffee. The rest of that percentage was ninety percent milk and ten percent sugar.

The pair sat there for ten minutes without talking, taking sips from time to time. It was always like this. At about seven and a half sips in silence, Lee would ask;

"How's the wife?"
"She's at home, of course she misses the kids, but she's alright." Lee smiled at the question, but didn't turn to Harry.
"How's your wife?" Lee asked, as he looked outside the window at the love of Harry's life.
"She needs a tune up. I think I'll let Mike fix her up later. She ain't runnin' like she used to."

"How do you know if you're wife is cheating on you?" Harry cracked a joke.
"I don't know, how?"
"When the seating adjustment has changed."
"That's dark." Lee quickly commenting.
"So is my coffee." Harry pulled out a silent laugh as he quickly replied.
"Hey who knows, maybe your wife is riding Mike too." Harry then replied even faster.
"You have a sick sense of humor, Harry, you know that?!" Lee shouted back at him, but it was normal.

"When are we going to die, Lee?"
"I'll probably die ten years after you do."
"I'm not kicking the cigs, I won't. You of all people should know that."
"You'll be kicking the bucket soon if you don't."

Harry pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He Inhaled, and then exhaled.

"How often do you think about death, Lee?"
"I don't."
"Do you think the only reason hell isn't mentioned in the bible is because we are already in hell?" Harry asked, while puffing a few more rounds.
"Aren't we supposed to be on fire?" Lee commented.
"They used fire to kill people slowly during the war. Did you ever stop to think that we've been set on fire from the moment we were born, and just like God, we can't see that fire because it resides in the world where our souls exist?"
"Shouldn't we be burning eternally then?" Lee asked.
"In death do our souls die?" Harry shot a look at Lee.
"I guess not?"
Harry took a huge puff then said; "Then I guess even when we do die, our souls still burns for the sins we have committed in this physical world."

"But that's just based on what I was told."
"That's one way of looking at it, I guess."

"Have you ever wondered what it felt like to die if you didn't believe in God."
"Or a God." Harry replied.
"I think what you believe in doesn't matter, but what you've done for the world does." Lee smiled slowly and looked at Harry.
"There's a difference between religion and a way of life."
"And what do you think that is?" Lee spoke while taking his last sip.
"In religion, you do good things for the after life. In a way of life, you do good things for the world you live in right now." Harry said while he too took his last sip.
"Anyways, I only know as much as you. I couldn't be certain I was right."