A LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

The Common Man is a local bar, typically patronized as its name suggests. Once a year the owner provides a free buffet of ribs, chicken wings, meatballs, sausage, fried rice, and a plethora of other things I was not hungry enough to try. My neighbors, who frequent the place regularly, invited me to come with them. Free meals don't tempt me but pool tables do.

Despite the economy which is clearly threatening many of the customers, the ambiance was cheerful, friendly and fun. Looking around the two rooms, fairly open to one another, there were lots of ways for the owner to make money without forcing liquor on people. It looked somewhat like an arcade, coin machines offering games of skill, others of chance, were sprinkled all over the walls. Keno feeds the gambling instinct for money. I somehow, fortunately, did not inherit a gambling gene, figuring surviving life was about as much of a gamble as my spring loaded nervous system will safely endure. I try not to tempt the law of averages negatively.

There were dartboards on the wall and at the far end of the room a coin operated pool table. The owner and I paired off against a couple of guys who had been playing much of the afternoon. My forty years of rusting showed significantly as I commented that I couldn't seem even to shovel a ball into a pocket! Fortunately for our team, he was good, having worked for many years as a young man in a place with a table and obviously having benefited from a good eye and practice.

I'd also forgotten that, in these neighborhood bars, everyone either knew each other before they got there or left later knowing one another. I was clearly an anomaly by age, occupation, and not having grown up locally. Nevertheless, I was kindly tolerated much as a two-headed frog might be at a carnival. Actually, that may not be fair. I felt like the two-headed frog but cannot say I was treated as such by anyone. The WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union)started in 1873. The evening showed me clearly why they were not successful in well more than a Century. I'm still confused about a group with Christian in its name can be considered non-sectarian but that applies to my concrete view of words. It is not the neighborhood bar that is the problem. Alcoholics will obtain liquor anywhere, even if they have to make their own! In this world that keeps people more isolated than ever, sitting in front of computers and other lonely pursuits, it is a nice place to socialize.