The Tab
Huggy was smiling as he wiped the bar with a clean cloth. He was whistling and appeared to be in a great mood. His cook and two waitresses knew that this was one of Huggy's favorite days. He was even known to give them a bonus on this day.
Starsky was driving and said, "You know, Hutch, it's going to be big this time."
"Yeah, I know. We should have done this last month."
"Come to think of it, did we do it the month before? My God, Hutch when was the last time?"
"I don't even know. He'll know; believe me he will know."
The Pits had been opened for business a couple of hours when Huggy's two favorite people walked in, sat down and ordered lunch. He knew what Starsky was going to order. He always ordered the Starsky Special but Hutch ordered different things depending on his mood. He brought two beers to the table.
Before Hutch ordered, he said, "Okay, Huggy, how much is it this time." It was the day they were finally going to pay their dreaded bar tab. It's not that Starsky and Hutch wanted to run up a big tab, they always intend to pay; it's just that well stuff happens and they leave before they have a chance to pay. Sooner or later they come in, gripe about the amount and pay up. Today was that day.
They skipped paying the last two months and both Starsky and Hutch knew it was going to be big. If the extra bounce in Huggy's step was any indication of just how big it was, they knew they owed big time.
Huggy said, "Let me put in this order, and I'll be right back." He smiled and walked away with a little dance in his step.
Starsky took a sip of his beer and said, "Maybe we shoulda asked the bank for a loan before coming over here."
Hutch smiled and said, "Maybe you're right, look" They saw Huggy coming back with a pieced of register tape that looked like it was a foot long. Starsky and Hutch just shook their heads.
Huggy smiled as he handed them their tab. He never bothered to separate it into two bills. Starsky and Hutch were almost always together when they managed to get around to actually paying for the bill they each paid half.
Just as Huggy handed them the bill Hutch's phone rang. The look on his face let Starsky and Huggy know it was important. He jumped up from the table and Starsky was right behind him. Hutch looked back at Huggy and said, "Hug…"
"Yeah. I know. Put it on your tab…" His smile left his face. Somehow they did it to him again. He picked up the plates and glasses and walked towards the kitchen.
Starsky and Hutch ran back to the table and each of them put five $20.00 bills on the table. Huggy picked up the money and laughed and said, "It always gets paid eventually."
His smile returned as he quietly mumbled, "I love those guys."