Callahan's Place 10 - Off The Wall At Callahan's (v5.0) by Spider Robinson Read Free Book Online Page B

in the morning when I rise
          
           You give me what I need, and you need what I can give
           Like you I live for loving, and like me you love to live
           I swear I’ll make you happy if there’s any way I can
           And if you will be my Mountain Lady, I will be your man…
     
     
    Mountain Lady, smile for me: your smile is like the rising of the sun
    Wait a little while for me—I’m coming back as fast as I can run
    Mountain Lady, talk with me, for talking is essential to our growth
    I want you to walk with me through all the days remaining to us both
          
           You give me what I need, and you need what I can give
           Like you I live for loving, and like me you love to live
           I swear I’ll make you happy if there’s any way I can
           And if you will be my Mountain Lady, I will be your man…
     
     
    Mountain Lady, dance for me
    Your dancing takes my breath away, you know…
    Save that loving glance for me—I love it when you let your loving show
    Mountain Lady, give to me a kind of love I’ve never had before
    I want you to live with me: I cannot live without you any more…
          
           You give me what I need, and you need what I can give
           Like you I live for loving, and like me you love to live
           My love is deep and stronger than a river running wild
           I want to be your lover, and the father of your child…

 
     
    Dramatis Personae: 
     
     
    I believe in my heart of hearts—and in my brain of brains, for that matter—that an epigram should be like a good son-in-law: completely self-supporting.  If it needs footnotes, it’s not an epigram.  My old friend and esteemed editor Jim Frenkel, however (like clams, he’s better esteemed than eschewed), is certain you will find the epigrams in this book more enjoyable if you know a little something about their speakers.  And he is quite keen that you enjoy yourself, since he has overpaid me so outrageously for this volume and wants to be sure you’ll give copies to all your friends for Christmas.  Who could argue with that?  Well…me, for one. 
           It’s not just that I’m lazy, though I’m proud to say I am.  It’s not even that he’s getting extra work out of me for free, which offends my religion.  My feeling is that if you finish this book curious to know more about the people whose wit and wisdom hold its covers apart, the sensible thing for me to do would be to just refer you to the six available volumes in which they appear at much greater length, and hope you take the bait.  
           But in all fairness, I have to admit that might not be the most sensible thing for Jim to do, as none of those six books is published by this house just now. (Although Jim was the editor who bought the first Callahan book…and was working for Tom Doherty at the time!  Life is strange.)  Therefore I bow to his editorial insight, marketing savvy, and phenomenal endurance in argument. 
           Here, then, are as few words as I can get away with concerning all the wonderful people you’re about to hear:  [The descriptions in italics are quoted, and sometimes misquoted, from Chris McCubbin’s excellent text for the CALLAHAN'S CROSSTIME SALOON role-playing game, available from Steve Jackson Games, Inc. of Austin, Texas.)
     
    Mike Callahan : He built his bar in Suffolk County, in the image of countless other roadside Irish taverns in the New York area…a serene and reassuring presence, he always kept his place merry.  He looked like a big dumb Irishman, but it was impossible to talk to Callahan for more than a few minutes without realizing that he was a man of unusual depth, wisdom and sensitivity…from Big Beef McCaffrey, who tried to shortchange him, to the Mafia flunky who tried to scare him into renting a jukebox, anybody who tried to put the muscle on Callahan got the same