Neighborhood Bar

It's been a long time since I've hung out in a neighborhood bar. But there is still something alluring about them. I used to just pass within the shadow of a bar and I'd drift in and slouch onto a stool and ask for a "cold one"

Now when I walk by I can hear the dull crack of a cue ball and a one note twang from the juke box. Smell the drift of cigarette smoke and hear the muffled clap of two old timers playing "horses"against the countertop. The seedier the bar the better, the more grizzled the men and lacquered the women. Watered down drafts for a quarter and grit on the floor and a Clydesdale horse clopping around and around in a neon Bud sign. And just the faint hint of expectation in the air. It does make me pause and hold in the scene like a lungful of good smoke before I move on...