Buster Hicks belched loudly for the umpteenth time. Jim, the bartender, rolled his eyes and wiped a glass clean. Buster was his only customer on a Tuesday nights. Jim often wondered around this time every Tuesday if Buster was the cause of the empty bar. Jim had seen Buster repeatedly run off newcomers on Tuesday night by regaling them with stories of his heroics.

Jim picked up a glass and prepped another scotch on the rocks for Buster. The obviously inebriated hero uttered a thanks and started sipping the new one, and Jim nodded, picked up the empty glass, and cleaned it up. Buster stared up at the TV in the corner, and Jim checked what channel was on it. Jim almost spit a curse when he saw the news on TV. That was a sure fire way to get Buster rattling about himself. Jim grabbed the remote and turned to a channel with something more entertaining on: The Lone Ranger, in black and white from the old days.

Buster muttered something about changing channels but continued to drown himself in his drink.

Jim sighed and despite himself, he could hear Buster talking about his heroic glory.

Twelve years ago during December on a Tuesday night, Buster was driving home and saw a wreck happen. He stopped his truck and rushed to help with getting people out of the cars. In one car was a pregnant woman in the passenger seat and her dead husband in the driver’s seat. The other car contained a dead drunk driver. Buster had hurriedly dragged all involved out of their cars and called for help with his brick phone. The ambulance arrived, pronounced the two males dead and rushed the woman to the hospital. The woman and baby girl survived.

Jim did not beget Buster some heroic bragging for the event, but unlike the Lone Ranger, Buster clung to that moment like the jocks of yesteryear clung to the football game where they scored four touchdowns for Polk High. Jim was convinced that those people caught dwelling in the past were not equipped for what the future would bring. They let down their guard to be blindsided by events that would have never caught them before.

In Buster’s case, he had clutched the moment of glory like a security blanket and wrapped himself in it every chance he could. Buster visited the Ronda, the woman from the wreck, repeatedly after the event.  Ronda learned of her husband’s death and the events surrounding it. She looked for a rock and found Buster. Buster married her a couple months later, and then Penelope was born. Penelope was fine till she was about six and her parents told her about the accident.

Penelope asked only one question, “Why didn’t you save daddy?”

That was when the drinking started. Every Tuesday night, Buster would visit the bar, get sloshed, and have Ronda come pick him up. Anything that could be done to avoid Penelope and the guilt.

Jim glanced back up at the end of the episode on the TV: the Lone Ranger riding off into the sunset. If only Buster had had that hero’s grace, he thought, switching the newest empty glass for a full one.