“You fucking simpleton,” Donnie Anderson exclaimed as he rubbed the chalk on the tip of his cue and rounded the table to where his brother Lonnie had just missed the eight ball in the right corner pocket which cost them another hundred dollars,” you shoot like a heroin addict with a nervous twitch!”
“Geez, Donnie,” Lonnie replied in a mellow tone,” don’t worry bro, we’ll make it back, and that I can promise”. With that Lonnie opened his jacket to flash the shiny nickel-plated piece he had tucked in a holster. Instead of infuriating Donnie it actually delivered a sense of equal calm to him.
“Okay, let’s raise the stakes on this next round, how about double?” Donnie asked the two men on the opposite side of the table who were nursing two beers while smoking Benson and Hedges.
“Two bills?” the taller one with a pony tail replied as he set down his beer,” how do we know you’re good for it? Let’s see some green on the table.”
Without missing a beat Donnie dropped two hundred dollar bills on the table as Lonnie began racking the balls up. Then Donnie motioned to the waitress behind the bar flashing a peace sign and drawing his two fingers towards his face. In a minute she came over with two shots and two beers for him and his brother.
“You boys sure you want to lay down two?” the shorter one said as he sipped his beer,” you’re going to end up owing us $200 besides those two on the table." He stubbed out his cigarette on an aluminum ashtray filled with cigarette butts. "So you really might want to save those drinks for after to nurture the wounds of your inevitable defeat.”
“Shit,” Donnie replied with a cocky tone,” you ever seen ‘Drunken Master’?”
“Yeah, I have,” the taller one replied with his cigarette dangling from his lips. He stood up from the bar stool with his stick in his hand and made a clean break without thinking twice and dropped two solid balls in opposite corner pockets.
“Well, Jackie Chan ain’t got shit on me when it comes to tossing back a few and shooting some pool,” Donnie explained,” and my brother, well, let’s just say he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve that rival those of Mr. Chan”. After missing the next shot the tall guy stepped aside for Donnie to shoot. He slammed the shot, sucked down half of the mug of cold beer and proceeded to knock 3 stripes in the far two pockets.
The next five minutes flew by as the colored balls knocked back and forth against the green carpet while Donnie and Lonnie cleaned up the stripes and eight ball with utmost swiftness . Then they went on to double that and then double it again to walk away with two bills each. As Donnie went to the wranglers room Lonnie watched the taller one talking to his buddy while finishing off their pitcher of beer. As Donnie came back to the table he saw the nod from his brother informing him of the events about to possibly transpire.
“So, you fellas want to go for double or nothing again?” the short one asked as he chalked his pool stick.
“No, I think we’re about done here,” Donnie replied while picking up his jacket and grabbing his cigarettes off the bar table,” thanks for the offer though.”
“My friend, Otis, may be a little too polite,” the taller one said approaching Donnie with his pool stick in hand,” you are going to play another round.”
“Oh,” Donnie retorted,” why didn’t you just say so?” With that Donnie snatched the pool stick from him and threw it over to Lonnie who caught it with one hand without missing a beat. “So you want to play another round? You didn’t say of what? So allow me to decide the game we play. How about, let’s say, me kicking the shit out of you and then we can call it a day?”
Otis sprang up at those words to back up his friend, Jim, who now had millions of thoughts racing through his mind. One of them being the image of his parole officer finding out he wasn’t down at the docks unloading electronics from Japan but rather at a bar getting in a scuffle with someone over gambling. Donnie let him chew on his thoughts for a moment and then proceeded to walk out of the bar with Lonnie following him.
As soon as they walked outside into the chilly fall environment of Trenton, New Jersey they each threw on their sunglasses. Lonnie heard the door open and close behind them and without turning around raised his right fist to smack Otis directly in his eye. Otis dropped to the ground grasping his left eye, which was smarting terribly with pain. Donnie stretched and then turned around to deliver a swift kick to Otis’ stomach and then turned to Lonnie.
“What a nice day it is, bro,” Donnie said, “let’s go get something to eat. I've worked up quite an appetite beating those losers.”
“Literally,” Lonnie replied as he flicked his cigarette butt on Otis who was curled up on the pavement,” and you know what? I’m feeling in a generous mood so I’m buying.”
“Let’s roll,” Donnie concurred as he spit on Otis and then they strolled down the block.
*****************************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment