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diver531 - Re: where is everyone
Posted By: Capt D In Response To: Re: where is everyone (diver531)
Date: Friday, 3-30-18, at 7:43 p.m.
While not "meaningful" you might enjoy another tavern story.
Circa 1953. Dad closing tavern @ 2:00 AM. Entrance door is in a recessed alcove so impossible to see sidewalks. As he finishes the locks, and before he can turn he's grabbed from both sides and forced into handcuffs behind his back. Then thrown into police vehicle which in those days was known as a "paddy wagon". After a brief ride he's ushered into the largest metropolitan hospital and down the stairs to the morgue. In the dim light one of the wall cooler doors is opened and he's pushed headfirst into a space the size of a coffin. And the door is closed. After a few seconds he hears the morgue door slam shut.
Cold, no lights, on a slab in the morgue.
Whodunnit?? Why of course, his "best" friends.
The tavern besides bein for locals was also the sippin post for a lot of the precinct police. They were always around the place + at our home. Great guys and the 3 that accosted him all 6ft 6". They were so big that rarely did they have to touch anyone let alone pull a sidearm.
Oh, they did come back after an hour and rescued him!
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One more...
Dead of winter in the inner city. Wind howling, About 8" of snow on the ground. 9:00 PM. Bar pretty full up w/ customers in spite of the awful weather.
Dad sees local shoe shine boy head south past the front window. (Have to tell you guy was a pest, and banned from the tavern as he bothered customers.) He was about 40, 4 ft tall, mute, and pulled his shine box on a rope.
Hour or so later customer comes in and says the shine boy is headed back north - lookin about frozen to death.
Dad goes to door and ushers him inside. Customers are amazed at dad's mercy.
But dad had a plan - whispering to one of the customers to buy the shine boy a drink and have others do the same. Before the guy even got to the bar someone called out, "give em a double". He had just downed it when another customer said, "give em another." And, on and on for an hour, By this time the shine boy was feelin "no" pain. What some call "wasted".
The shine boy didn't notice dad take away the shine box to the back room, returnin a few minutes after, and putting it back to its spot next to the guy.
Then someone yelled..."Hey, how about a shine." It was contagious...calls were coming for a shine from everyone, and the shine boy in spite his intoxication realized he had hit it "big."
Pulling his box over to the 1st guy he pulled on the lid. "It wouldn't didn't open", tho he tried and tried.. The customer yelled "come on, come on!!" Then the others all opened up with, much of the same. It was bedlam. Yellin at the shine boy + all the laughter.
Since the shine boy could not provide any shines, dad had no choice but to usher him back outside into the snow.
Oh, btw, dad in the back room had nailed his shine box shut.
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Headin for Fredericksburg VA in the morning to visit daughter and hubby in their newly built townhome. The place is not OD (old dog) or OP friendly... 3 stories!! No landscaping yet, no casinos in VA, temps to be in the 50"s, and worst of all no place w/i walking distance to fish (a legal post)!
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