My tavern is set with a long bar that runs along the length of about half of one wall with a polished brass bar to rest your foot upon and a well rounded edge to rest your elbows. A few simple stools are set in front of the bar to rest your weary self if you choose not to stand. A fine mirror sets behind the bar so my patrons can check their hair and it serves to make the place look larger. The floor is rough cut stone with saw dust and sand atop it. The walls are simple field stone cut only by a door that a tall man will have to watch his crown. A pair of narrow windows give a decent enough view. The fireplace set on the opposite wall from the bar and a hungry little pot belly stove that I pull out for the winter provide ample heat in the winter and a place to set a coffee pot. A few rough tables and benches that I built allow my customers to rest their weary souls.
Upstairs is the prevue of my wife Mina. A long room cut in thirds with one room is our bedroom, another her pantry a third smaller room is for our adopted daughter and the center room is her kitchen and bakery which is large enough to also entertain and feed our lodgers. There are enough windows to give her the light she wishes in the day and shutters plenty enough to keep the wind at bay. Mina has given her floor a taste of her touch. Lace curtains and such declare our bedroom truly hers. The kitchen and dining room of her bakery also seconds as a room for guests to visit with her. I must confess that I spend only one night in three in the bed beside my Mina. The other night I find myself sleeping upon the bar top after I have chased out the last of my customers. Though as often as not a man or two will sleep upon the tavern floor.
The inn floor is cut into four rooms with two beds each; in a pinch each bed will sleep four men. At a nickel a night a man gets space in a bed and a bit of bread and coffee in the morn. Two bits or a quarter will garner a man sole possession of a bed. Few have complained.
A pair of black cats that my Mrs. Mina calls her own help to keep the place free of rats and other such vermin. I have found that a happy and well fed cat will have fur as soft as silk. Their appreciation of me and my lovely Mrs. Mina has often been a friendly and comforting purr. The two cats split their time between house and stable.
The stable is a well set building of square cut logs and stone. The stable site below the mow and will easily set six horses or mules. The mow is a spacious one with a small but comfortable room I occasionally rent out to young men or teamsters in need of a roof and a square meal.
My Mrs. Mina has a face that I choose to adore, well rounded with age and experience and lines of strength upon her neck make her a handsome woman in my eyes. Any man foolish enough to contest my views is likely to face my wrath. I like to watch her sleep in the waning lamplight with only her face and neck above the blanket. Her beautiful face wreathed in the black of her hair and the dim light provided by candle or lamp soothes my soul and calms my hate like nothing else.
My Mrs. Mina, her cats, our adopted child and the men who call our place their rooming house make my life livable. The crimes of my early life and the death that haunts me still are made worthwhile by this place and this woman I call my own. A man can wish for little more than the woman he holds dear and the gear he needs to protect such. My Mrs. Mina and this place I call my own are all I need to own to be made whole.