porch life in Book Two

So it was old timey night on my front porch. Greg came over with a can of beer in hand. This is the third time this year that he has seen me and invited himself up. That’s ok. I don’t mind having a beer with him once in a while. He likes to talk about things. I like to listen.

One beer in, he invited another neighbour up from the sidewalk. ‘Hope you don’t mind.’ And that is where things went a little off the rails. Without going into details, sheep and cattle don’t mix. When you are missing a front tooth, interrupt others when they are speaking, smoke cigarettes and probably live on welfare or disability, me and you aren’t going to get along all that well.

We talked about high school and the three of us reminded me of just that. At Bayridge, the student population came from three neighbourhoods. Bayridge was a middle-class suburb. The houses were all less than 15 years old. Collin’s Bay was an older suburb. The houses there were mostly bungalows from the 50’s. And West Brook - The houses there probably had a rusty car on the front lawn. That was me, Greg and Chris last night.

but we talked about how it was in the olden days
strippers
biker bars
life generally was a lot rougher
there used to be ashtrays on the tables, said Chris
those would go flying first
But Greg pointed out that no one carried weapons
not guns
not knives even
so no one got killed
you might get beat up
but not killed
we talked before about drinking and driving
men’s door and ladies with their escorts door
separate rooms
those were beer drinking rooms
8 ounce glasses
3 for $2
…