The seat called out to me, from atop its polished chrome pole. The leather, or vinyl, or leatherette - I couldn’t be sure which was used in high traffic areas - was not as worn as I had expected. It looked like it had been recently cleaned. I slung my bag over the top of the adjacent seat and swiveled the chair with my knee before sliding into place. It was barely 8am, that time of morning when eastern shuttle commuters flooded airport terminals and elbowed each other for pole position in the race to get a cab on their way to the office. Already I had been nearly flattened twice as I made my way through the terminal.

The bar called out to me, and not just because I needed a number of drinks before I could fly without becoming wildly psychotic. Airport lounges during early morning hours were something to behold. Never were they treated with any kind of respect. Only two types of lounges opened this early in the day: The kind with nondescript entry ways and anonymous faded beige walls that opened at 6AM and were populated by elderly vets who needed a drink during every waking hour to expel whatever horrors of war they brought home; and airport lounges, the haven for those with lengthy layovers and poor souls suffering from jet lag. There was a third type in this scenario. The kind of traveler needing liquid sedation to ease the fear of flying. This was my type. But my kind was barely a blip on the radar. My kind could take a train if it were truly that debilitating a condition.

I mistook the guy behind the counter restocking the bar supplies for a bar back until he adjusted his apron and with a stereotypically thick Brooklyn accent normally reserved for Robert DeNiro or Chazz Palminteri asked me what I’d have.

8AM was too early for Scotch. Even in these circumstances, three fingers of Scotch before noon was bad form. Gin was the work of the devil. I never liked the stuff. Too bitter. It always tasted like lime zest to me. I brushed off some lint gathered on the lapel of my Banana Republic winter coat while I considered my options. […]