Cutter Bar

By Sonia

Disclaimer: Okay, let’s see if I remember the drill correctly. These characters aren’t mine. I’m not making any money off of them, nor am I using them for any other sort of personal gain. In fact, they’re probably taking up way too much of my time. I’m only borrowing them for a bit in the hopes of scratching that strange writer’s itch I’ve been having recently and to perhaps provide entertainment for my friends for a short while.

(Author’s note: This fanfic falls in between Kaddish and For Love or Money which is near the end of series four of Water Rats. The song that is playing on the jukebox at the Cutter Bar is ‘Distant Thunder’ by Richard Clapton)

The group in the corner is normally such a happy lot. Everytime they’re in here, at least one of them is joking around and taking the mickey out of the others.

I’m Jenny, one of the staff here at the Cutter Bar and I’ve gotten to know most of the regulars. I think the group in the corner is from the Water Police Station nearby. Something is wrong tonight, everyone seems pretty quiet and they look like they’ve lost their best friend.

Then I wake up to myself as I look at the newspaper at the end of the bar. They have lost their best friend. Skimming the article, I take in the awful details of the murder of Detective Rachel Goldstein and the hunt for her killer.

It’s pretty quiet tonight, so I take the chance to observe this group whom I feel like I’ve come to know.

Two of them, a red head and one of the younger guys who is blond and kind of cute, move away from the group and start talking quietly at another table. She seems fine for a while, talking about something and then it is almost as if she is overwhelmed by everything. Her companion places his arm around her shoulders hoping to comfort her as she weeps.

I take their order to the main group and I can’t help but overhear the conversation.

"Tommy, can you take a couple of these over to Tayler and Gavin?

"Sure Jeff.

"Helen, have you been able to get a message through to Frank yet?

"I’ve sent what seems like a thousand e-mails and also asked the Navy and Coast Guard to break the news when they sight the Footloose. So far he hasn’t responded but I’ll chase it up again in the morning.

"He is going to be absolutely shattered when he hears about Rachel."

The tall blond bloke, I think his name is Jack, follows me back towards the bar.

"Got some change for the juke box?" he asks

"Sure." I hand over his change and can’t resist looking over his shoulder to see what he picks. I hope it is something that rocks – this group needs a lift.

"Hey Helen, come over here for a second….

A stylish brunette, her eyes seem red raw from crying, walks over and sees the song her companion is pointing to. A soft smile creeps over her face.

"What do you think of this one?

"Jack, that was one of Rachel’s favourites wasn’t it?

"Yeah…want to dance?

"I’d love to."

The song starts to play. It has a soulful, straight from the heart quality to it and smiles start to form on the faces of the rest of the group.

Jack and Helen started to dance. To me, they seemed like good friends in need of a shoulder to lean on after going through sheer hell.

I’m distracted for a minute or two as a few more customers come in. The next time I look over at the group of friends, Tayler, Gavin, Tommy and a tall blonde, whom everyone affectionately calls "Woodsie", are on the dance floor with Jack and Helen.

---------------------------------------------------

"There is no doorway to the past

The rest of the group is heading towards the pool table. Dave, who is probably the real larrikin of the group, is starting to pay out on the one they call Mick. Their boss, Jeff is leaning on a corner of the pool table, watching the action and sipping his beer.

Even I start smiling as I realise the mateship that forms through living and working in each others pockets is going to get them through this. No matter what else happens, they’ll be okay.

The End