\u201cDetroit Rock City\u201d by Kiss played on the jukebox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two OTAs, a man and woman, sat together at the bar and drank double screwdrivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had their hands all over each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I caught a drift of their conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had to go to work at 3:00 a.m. at a gas factory, so why not have another double screwdriver on a Sunday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His girlfriend agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The joint’s decor was unforgettable except for a painting of Scooby Doo drinking a martini on the wood paneling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever inspired this masterpiece of OTA art was lost to the Canadian mists of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I noticed an old wall telephone, red in color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was one of those ancient lines that connected directly to a cab company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would have given anything to listen in to one of those calls, say, from 1978,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
after a night of Dylan Thomas drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drink special was a tequila sunrise Jello shot. $1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The food special was a shrimp basket. $10.99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A country song came on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’d never heard it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lyric went, \u201cSheila, pour me another tequila.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OTA couple were sneaking kisses, copping feels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender emerged from behind the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was fishing kimchi out of a jar, eating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHonky Tonk Women\u201d by the Rolling Stones came on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender was eating kimchi with his hands, an OTA couple was making out while drinking double screwdrivers, and Mick Jaggar was singing about a gin-soaked barroom queen, snorting coke, and getting laid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door to the joint opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In walked a gnarled man with a cane wearing a blue ball cap two sizes too large for his noggin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender and the OTA couple greeted him with enthusiasm, called him Old Jack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was at least 200 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Old Jack was told he was looking good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m always looking good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was asked why he hadn’t been around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’ve been getting shitfaced at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was told there had been concern for his welfare in his absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He grunted and bellied up to the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bartender asked if he wanted the usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Old Jack said, \u201cYes, the one and one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seconds later Old Jack was drinking Jack Daniels Red on the rocks, chasing it with a pint of Budweiser and pickled egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d by Bob Dylan came on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A half naked woman (homeless?) entered the joint carrying flowers in a dirty vase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She placed the vase on top of a gambling machine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ripped a fart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
slipped in some dollar bills,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and got to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cDetroit Rock City\u201d by Kiss played on the jukebox. Two OTAs, a man and woman, sat together at the bar and drank double screwdrivers. They had their hands all over each other. I caught a drift of their conversation. He had to go to work at 3:00 a.m. at a gas factory, so why not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9895,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892\/revisions\/9895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}