"Smith-JukeboxGifts" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Adam)

this jukebox I hoped there would be a special song for each man. A song that
would trigger a memory and a ride into the past. My Christmas present to each of
them.

I took a deep breath and headed behind the bar. "I hope," I said, keeping my
voice upbeat, "that it will be a little more than just a song. You see, that
jukebox is all that I have left from the first time I owned a bar. Since I've
owned the Garden Lounge, it has never been played."

Jess, his dress shirt open to the third button and his tie hanging loose around
his neck, spun his bar napkin on top of his glass. "So why tonight?"

"Because a year ago on Christmas Eve I made the decision to buy another bar --
the Garden. Lounge -- and try again."

"And I'm glad you did," David said, lifting his drink in his good left hand in a
toast.

"Here, here," Fred said, raising his drink high above his head and spilling part
of it into his red hair. "Where else could we enjoy a few hours of Christmas Eve
before going home to be bored?"

All four men raised their glasses in agreement as I laughed and joined them with
a sip of the sweet eggnog I always drank on Christmas Eve. No booze, just
eggnog.

"It's been a good year," I said, "especially with friends like you. That's why
I've decided to give each of you a really special present."

"Oh, to hell with the present," Jess said. "How about another drink? I've got a
wife to face and knowing her, she ain't going to be happy that I'm not home
yet."

"Is she ever happy?" David asked.

Jess nodded slowly. "And I wonder why I drink." He slid his glass down the bar
at me as he always did at least once a night. I caught it and tipped it upside
down in the dirty glass rack.

"I'll fix everyone a last Christmas drink as you open the first part of your
presents." I reached into the drawer under the cash register and pulled out four
small packages. Each was the size of a ring box wrapped in red paper and tied
with a green ribbon.

"Awful little," Fred said as I slid one in front of each man and then put four
special Christmas glasses up on the mat over the ice. I'd had the name of each
man embossed on the glass.

"You know what they say about small packages," Jess said, twisting the package
first one way, then the other while inspecting it. "But knowing Radley, the size