... [Thomas Hudson] looked at his watch. "Why don't we just have a quick one?"Wayward Woods wrote:There are a lot, but just read this one and liked it:
“It’s never too early for a cocktail” — Noël Coward, The Vortex (1926)
Once I sober up I’ll post the accompanying Hemingway quote.
"Fine. I could use one." [Roger explained]
"It isn't quite twelve."
"I don't think that makes any difference. You're through working and I'm on vacation. But maybe we better wait until twelve if that's your rule."
"All right."
"I've been keeping that rule, too. It's an awful nuisance some mornings when a drink would make you feel alright."
"Let's break it," Thomas Hudson said. "I get awfully excited when I know I'm going to see them," he explained.
"I know."
"Joe," Roger called. "Bring the shaker and rig for martinis."
"Yes, sir. I got her rigged now."
"What did you rig so early for? Do you think we're rummies!"
"No, sir. Mr. Roger, I figured that was what you were saving that empty stomach for."
From Ernest Hemingway's Islands in the Stream