Glen -
Thanks for sharing the personal anecdote. It provides context and
fodder for later ribbing if it comes to that.
[*] I was practically reared in a bar called Lloyd's. Lloyd was a
one-armed bartender who taught me how to open a beer with one hand at
the age of about 8. Oh, and Lloyd had also had a laryngectomy and while
not opening beers with his one arm, had to hold a wand to his throat in
order to speak.
I just finished reading J.R. Moehringer's autobiography "The Tender Bar"
describing his own raising/coming-of-age in a local tavern where all of
his male relatives drank, excepting his father who had left the family
and was a radio personality in the big city so that the son could *hear*
his father but never really got to know him. Raised firstly by his
mother, he was raised also by the male relatives and other denezins of
the tavern. There was a lot of insider/outsider understanding in that
story as well.
I myself learned to drink and shark pool (well, I wasn't good enough to
shark but I made a good prop for my boss at the time who was excellent
at it) in a country tavern (a block from where my friend killed his
parents!) just at the edge of town. I towered over most grown men and
had a reasonable beard at 16, and accompanied by either my 40 year old
boss or my 23 year old sometimes (when it was convenient for her)
girlfriend, Nobody questioned me ... It also helped that drinking age
was 19 at that time.
My presence at the bar was public data and I didn't do anything in
particular to keep it private. Fortunately neither of my parents were
drinkers (except at home in small quantities) and only a couple of times
did it seem like I was close to getting busted. It was a large enough
town or small enough city that such a thing could happen... and a good
lesson in the issues of public/private.
- Steve
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