Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-02
By MAC HYMAN
Copyright 1854 by Mac LYMAN
CHAPTER XVIII

right merry being amongst them. Then
Polettie stopped and said. Right over yon-
der" and led the way over to where he said
we could play some smoker. 1t warnt nothing
but pool hall, though, which kind of sur
prised me; and smoker warnt nothing but
Just another way of shooting pool But they
was all excited and didn't say nothing about
1t; they got down their cues and powdered
them and chalked them up, everybody talking
and jabbering, and then Polettie come over
to show me how to shoot. He said. you see
those little pockets, Will? Well, all you got TO
do is take these here sticks and bump IL
against the ball here-we calls this the cue
ball-and knock in one of them red pals IN
one of these holes here-we call them pockets.
Then you get to shoot one OF the other paiis'
see. A red ball counts a point and the other
balls count whatever it says on the side. Then
YOU shoot the rest of them in rotation, that
means two three, four and so on. See?
Nothing to it, really. The only other thing is
that it is usually kind of customary 10 put
down little bet. Now how much was 1t you
said you had?"
Thirty -four dollars" I said.
"Well, we'll just get everybody together
and see how much of that we can cover wen
let you cover all the bets at f1rst because tiIs
is your first game, okay?
So he went around and collected up
twenty-seven dollars and they covered tnat
much of my thirty-four. Then ne lalo II OUT
on the table, and they said for me 10 DredA
the balls because / was doing most OF the
betting, so leaned over and broke them up
and made me red ball. and they TOOK OH
about that for good while. They clompeo
me on the back and said was apouC tlie
hest they was and so on, and acted ike real
good sports about it, thought. They SAID,
"Okay Will you done made one point now.
Now YOU get to shoot a numbered pail, any
one you want
Willie Learns the Game
So I picked out the seven ball ana SUNK
IL which gave me eight points, and they TOOK
on some more about it, only not as much
as the first time So then l shot again anu
dropped another red ball, and then the seven
again, and then another red one, and then
the six, and went on like that for quite
while until all the red balls were gone ana
then 1 started shooting them in rotation IKE
they said, and kind of got wrapped up IN
it l guess because it warnt until was down
to the last ball that / noticed that NOBODY
had said anything for while. So looked
around and seen they was sitting around
Just watching, not saying word, some OF
them on tables and some OF them IN cnaHs
around the place. Anyhow, stopped men,
feeling right bad about hogglng all LIE
shooting: 1 said, Don't one OF yall want 10
one person to do all the shooting all the time
But none of them moved or said anything.
Then Polettie put his cue back in the rack
and said, NAV, Will you might as well go
ahead and shoot that one too. We wouldn't
want to keep you from learning how
That's all right" said There really
don't seem to be too much to it nohoW. DonI
yall want to rack them up for another one?"
But Polettie said. There Amt one OF us
that could afford the necessary dime" and
they all started putting their cues back up
and it made me feel pretty bad. II had OF
knoWed they had bet all they had. never
would have bet with them in the first place.
We went out of the place and l was rlgnt
miserable thinking about it. I wished they
was some way I could give it back without
making them feel bad, but I couldn't think
of no way at ALL 1t amt ever right to act
like a man amt willing to pay off his bets.
and I know l wouldn't want to lose money
to a man and have him try to give it back
to me-you wouldn't even feel like man no
more.
One Dollar Apiece
But we wandered around for a while
and everything got more dismal, so l decided
to take chance on 1t. l come out ana SAID,
well, now, I don't want yall to take no Oh
Tense at it, but I'd be glad to lend you DOL
lar apiece if you need it for the nlght, II
you just want to borrow some, beng as we
are going to have a party and everything
They all stopped and looked at me, and
was scared had said the wrong thing, only
1 didn't see no harm in lending them some;
but then Sergeant King said, That's mighty
decent of you, Stockdale. Mighty decent,
and took it pretty good. They all gathered
around and I give them a dollar apiece; and
then I told them, "Ill lend you another one
later on i'm you happen to need It,
MI eoiL sAan
I don't see how on earth we are going to spend
all this one, Will" so didn't bring 1t up no
more, as had gone pretty far in the first
place.
Anyhow, we went down to this place they
we're talking about and we drank some
beer but it didn't seem like much OF party
The place got pretty crowded up with SO
many people that you couldn't move around
hardly. with all kinds of different uniforms
around, sailors and soldiers and so on ana
there was so much smoke that the ceiling
locked blue with it, and big old juke organ
blaring out so loud that you couldn't hardly
talk to each other. We set in the booth and
drank some more beer that l ordered, but no
body had much to say, only set there looking
at the other people, and the thing got right
dull for party. We saw one right good flght,
and we thought we was going to see another
one because these two fellows started yelling
saying Let me co. Let me co." to this little
old fellow who warnt half holding him nohoW,
and kept trying to jerk away from him to get
at the other one, and the other one kept doing
the same, until they finally got tired of hold
ing them and let them go, but then they just
got right close up to each other and poked
their faces out and mumbled things at each
other. and cussed little Bit but by that time
warnt nobody paying any attention to them
and they quit, and the last I seen of them
they was up at the bar drinking together
No Joy at All
tried to liven it up some by telling them
joke but they just set there and fiddled with
their glasses and looked at the beer, and
slipped at it, and when I got through. didn't
nobody even smile about it. Polettie and Ser
geant King kept nagging at each other; Ser
geant King said he wished he hadn't even of
come, and Polettie said, well, this was your
bright idea, not NINE and then Sergeant