Irene thought she lived up to her nickname of ‘Ornery’ all of May and if she was honest, most of the summer. The hits just kept on coming. Ally left, and then she and Smitty got into it over his planned occupation for the coming winter.
Losing Smitty to fishing on Prince William Sound was bad enough. When he dropped hints about signing on with a crabber for the season, the fight started. It got hideous when he came clean and admitted to having signed on without discussing it with her.
Irene kicked him out. With most of the reasonable rentals snapped up, Smitty wound up camping out across the bay in Seldovia. It got back to her he was telling all their friends she would soften up. He figured everything would be okay when she got a look at his paycheck at the end of the crabbing season.
She didn’t bother to have it out with him and explain what I’m done with your sorry ass meant. In retrospect, Irene realized she should have had another talk with the man. Instead, she took all her aggression out on the job.
As the only female bouncer in Homer, she gained a reputation over the summer as being very hard-nosed. The owner of the Old Salt Bar, Hal said nothing about her being too overbearing. Irene thought he encouraged her because it brought in customers.
Having a blond, blue-eyed female for a bouncer was a big enough draw all in its self. When the woman was only four feet, five inches tall, it shook a few people up. One or two smart boys from out of town attempted to see if they could be the man to shut her down. The local guys all made money on side bets when that happened.
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