A Day Among The Plebians

What a fun day! I showered, dressed, then walked over to Vickie's at 11:15 (brought her some corn bread), and off we went to Bennie's birthday party. We walked into the Hill Street Cafe and the first person I saw was James, Bennie's brother and guardian. I had been in touch with him via email regarding SO-FI's various transgressions, but had never met him in person. Here he is with Bennie:

And a few more party pictures:

Anyway, Vickie and I had a lot of fun:

James told party-goers to order whatever they wanted on the menu, but please only one drink. Since Vickie isn't drinking alcohol until next week,* she suggested that after my orange blossom (see pic), I could have the Chardonnay she'd order with my meal. Hey, don't have to ask me twice and that's what we did. I like the eggs Benedict I've had several times there and that's what I ordered. We had a great time meeting and chatting with others, many of whom had worked with Bennie at the county; he was with them for forty years.

After the felicitations, the cake (oh, yum!) and the goodbyes, Vickie asked if I might want to go to O'Leary's, a nearby bar, and play pool. Yes, I'm serious. Vick had been a champion (ranked seven in some kind of system in which top is ten) years ago, which I knew about. Did I want to play? Don't be funny. But did I want to watch her play? Sure! We walked into O'Leary's and I thought I was back bar-hopping as a teenager in A.C.**

It was such fun! I ordered (another) Chardonnay and Vickie had a no-booze beer. She played several games of pool with two guys who had been playing each other. (The idea is for the winner to continue to play; loser is eliminated.) Vickie won a game or two and also got compliments from on-lookers for several shots. It occurred to me that sometimes I get bored with "polite society" and those who favor it. I get tired of staid, settled, affluent people who had high-level careers and go to church and wouldn't dream of saying the F word or sitting in a bar watching ordinary people--maybe even Republicans or fundamentalists or those who work with their hands!--play pool. I loved it.  

*Vickie wants to end her abstinence then because that marks a full year during which she didn't drink. We agreed she's compulsive, like me. 

** This is such a long post, I'll put this reminiscent part on the take-it-or-leave-it basis below. I have no idea why the type is larger!

Did we actually do that? Yes. We couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen, since we were in high school, but Mary Martin, Janie Moylan, Joanne Eisele, Jeanne Dollard, Betty and I, and lots of others would tell our parents we were sleeping over somebody's house, then visit the bars and nightclubs. It's incredible that we were even admitted, let alone served booze, but we were. Once, Mary, Joanne, Teddy Mooney, and I went to New York on the train and stayed in a hotel overnight. That was because the legal drinking age there was 18; by this time, we had graduated, so I guess we were that age then. We stayed at a hotel in Manhattan, then went by bus to Greenwich Village to a bar. I clearly remember ordering and drinking a whiskey sour; what else we had I don't know.