The other day the coffee drinkers that meet at the restaurant every day at 2 o’clock were discussing and commenting on how many of our gang had passed away.
We have been meeting every afternoon for about 30 years and many, many have left us. Among them were Tarville Davis, “Baby” Guzzetta, Clyde Stansbury, Floyd Bailey and Bernie Adams. Well, since I am the oldest of the crew, I stood up and asked one question, which was: “Who would like to be the next one to pass away – raise you hand?” You can imagine my annoyance and disappointment when nobody raised their hand.
Then I asked who would like to see me, the oldest one, go next. They all raised their hands!
Now I know where my true friends are!
On July 20, 19998, I went to Osburn’s Tire Center in Morgan City. Troy Osburn, the manager, and Richard Price were there and they told me how much they enjoyed my articles “Recollections” in The Daily Review. Thank you both – you really made my day!
Clovie Thibodeaux went to the nursing home to see his friend Etienne Boudreaux. Clovie told Etienne how good he looked for an old man. Etienne said, “Clovie, how old you tink I am?” Clovie said, “You’re 80 years old.” Etienne said, “Say, how you know my age?” Clovie said, “Dat’s what you told me yesterday.”
Remember when I had my liquor store on Pacific Street, all my old friends would meet there and drink a few beers and reminisce about the good old times? I’ll never forget the time when Father Cramers would come in every day and chat and drink a couple cans of beer. Father was very witty and comical. He loved talking about traveling, as he was from Holland. He also loved classical music. He was always so comical and jolly.
One day Mrs. Teeyah Pisani came into my store. She used to work at the church for Father Cramers. Father called me on the side and told me to put about 30 empty beer cans, lined up on the table, in front of him. When Mrs. Teeyah saw all those empty beer cans, she said, in astonishment, “Father, did you drink all that beer?” Father looked at her and smiled and said, “Well, yes. I had a very good collection last Sunday.”
Mrs. Teeyah marched out of the store and never put her little quarter in the collection again!
The other night, I saw the program “Beyond Belief,” on television. It was about a runaway merry-go-round. This reminded me of an experience which happened to me. There was a group of us boys who went to a street fair in Berwick. Everyone climbed on the merry-go-round and it started slowly off. Suddenly, there was a short in the wiring and everyone started yelling at the top of their lungs. The electricity on the little horses was so great that the people riding them could not turn them loose. Their hands were stuck to the poles. Electricity grips you tighter when you try to pull away from it. To overcome electricity, you have to shove it away from you. Whenever you want to determine if electricity is present in anything, you use the back of your hand to throw it off.
Anyway, I didn’t get on the merry-go-round because with its constant turning, it makes me dizzy and sick.
I remember when I used to go to dances, I could never dance in a circle. I had to dance straight forward and backwards. I would grab my partner and dance straight to the wall on one side and slam my partner’s rear against the wall. Then I would put it in reverse and go backwards and ram my rear against the opposite wall. After the dance, our rears would be so sore that we both walked with a lean like the way Groucho Marx walked.
* The End *