Remember When

I have been working hard.....I decided to take the weekend off and let Jake, my assistant manager run the bar for awhile.....That Bar would be Josie's and I am Gus, Owner and HNIC of Josie's. Once just a neighborhood joint...Now one of the hottest spots in Philly. I started Josie's with help from a gangster...He only saw dollar signs...Me...I had a vision...A vision that has come into fruition...That
gangster and his son are long dead...Me, the last man standing is a very happy and wealthy man.
I coulda stopped working a long time ago...but I suppose I just like the people who come into Josie's.

Today...I was packing a bag and putting it in the trunk of my car...Getting ready to go to AC and have a little fun for a change...have somebody serve me a drink....Imagine that!

"That's a fine car you got there Gus....and a snazzy suit." came the voice...A sultry southern accent attached to the most dangerous curves imaginable. It was Mabel Jenkins....The owner of a popular soul food restaraunt right down the street from me. Mabel was from Louisiana..Had been in Philly for a couple of years now...Was the girlfriend of "88" , the Keyboard player in one of the many bands that regularly played in Josies. Wasn't a man in the bar that didn't envy "88" for having Mabel as a girlfriend.. If he knew what was good for him, he'd marry that gal before some slick player snatched her from him.

"Hey gal....You look pretty snazzy too, but then again...You always do." I laughed. A potato sack couldn't conceal those curves on that gal I thought.

"Where you headed Mistah Gus?" she asked.

" Oh, me and a friend are going to AC for the day...What you got planned?" I asked.

"Not a thing." she said.

"Where's 88?" I asked.

"In Japan...He and Reed Nelson are in the second week of their international tour." she said.

"It gets lonely being with a musician don't it?" I said.

"Yeah....it does ." she said.

"I thought for a moment, then finally I said- "Look....if you bored...get one of your sisters, Corrie
or Anita to run the shop and then, why don't you accompany two old gentlemen to AC for the day?" I said.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Sho...I would much prefer your company to the guy that's actually goin with me...but what can I say...He's an old Marine core buddy of mine....and I promised him I'd hook up with him...You know how it is?" I said.

''Sure do....You tell somebody you'll do somethin...only you're hopin they never take you up on it." she laughed.

"See Mabel, that's why I've always liked you...You and I think alike " I laughed.

"Oh Gus...You're a mess." she laughed.

Mabel packed a bag and was ready in no time... I liked that about her too. Then we drove to pick up the other fellow...Vick Washington.....A guy I knew in the Marine core.. We had served in Vietnam together...He could talk your ears off...but basically, he was good people.

He came to the door with his bag and his mouth runnin....as usual-

"Colorado....So nice to see ya pal...How ya doin?" he said.

Mabel looked at me -''Colorado?"

"Yeah...that's Gus's government name....Aint that how you young people say it.....Heh heh heh..
Colorado Williams." he laughed.

All these years...Nobody had actually known my real name except Jake, Joe Neptune ,the bartender at the Mermaid Club and maybe Kevin Morris, because I was friends with his late father...and none of them had ever told.....and now this blabber mouth had told Mabel.

"Yes Mabel, my real name is Colorado Augustus Williams." I said ,giving Vick the side eye.

"Wow, I never would've guessed." she said.

"Yeah...My father's name was Colorado and I don't know where in the hell they got "Augustus" from." I said.

"Yeah, I remember when I met Colorado in the Marine Core...He told everyone to call him Gus,
he didn't like his name , even then. said Vick.

"Vick...Vick...just shut up and get in the car...Oh, this is my friend Mabel...Mabel Jenkins....She has a restaurant down the street from Josie's." I said.

"Well Hello.....Pleased to make your acquaintence." said Vick.

"Charmed" said Mabel, who glanced over at me and smiled.

We drove over the Ben Franklin bridge and headed towards Atlantic City.

"Mabel....Colorado...Oh ,Okay...Gus was somethin else back in the day....You were probably a little girl...I remember when we used to drive all night from South Carolina to Philly...I'd drive some and Gus would drive some....Gus had a little ole gal up here in South Philly he was crazy about.....I had a girl up here too, an Italian girl....We'd get these girls and rent a hotel room, order some steaks, baked potatoes and some wine and eat, play cards and have ourselves a time....Course playin cards and eatin ain all we did..but-"

"Uhhh Vick...Vick....Mabel don't wanna hear none of that old talk....besides.."remember when" is the most boring of conversational pieces ." I said.

He shut up then , but soon got to talking about something else.

"Hey Gus...Remember when we got stopped by those two redneck troopers in North Carolina and you told me that one of em looked familiar and to tell him that I knew one of his relatives?"
asked Vick.

"Yeah, I remember that." I said with a smile...."Vick never watched anything on television except sports...so I told him to tell the cop that he knew his cousin, Barney Fife of Mayberry."

"Yeah and that cop pulled me outta the car and was gonna whip my head." said Vick.

Mabel cracked up....

'I didn't know." said Vick.

"So what happened?" asked Mabel.

"Gus duked em $200.00 bucks and they let us go." said Vick. We all had a good laugh about that.

Once in Atlantic City....The three of us went to a buffet in one of the casinos....There was food everywhere, and any type you wanted...Both Vick and I's eyes got wide as we looked at all of the food. For thirty dollars a head, there had better be this much food.

This guy in a slick suit walked over to Mabel and smacked her on the butt...

''Heyyyy baby, what's good?" he asked.

"Your health won't be good if you put your hands on me again." she said.

''Aww come on honey...I didn't mean nothin...just tryin to get yo attention." he laughed.

"Hey son...get lost." I said.

"Heheheheheheheheh...Who is this Your pop?" laughed the guy.

Mabel turned ,looked at him and walked away...He grabbed her arm....

"Hey don't walk away from me babe..I aint finished talkin to you." he said.

"I think you are son....now I aint gon tell you no more to get lost...now beat it." I said.

"Yo pops...It's a good thing youse an old head or I'd..."

"Or you'd what?" I asked...

"Hey girl, come get your pops before he gets himself hurt." laughed the guy....

This poor sap never saw my fist that landed straight in the middle of his stomach....or the other fist that landed on his temple or the left right combonation that dropped him on the floor in a heap...Poor guy.....

Vick grabbed him by his collar in front of astounded onlookers and dragged him out of the casino
and deposited him into the waist basket...head first...Clapped his hands together and then walked back into the casino.....Several people clapped in approval. I looked at Mabel...She smiled
from ear to ear....

"Wow Mr. Gus...I was going to handle that situation....I didn't know you were so good with your hands." she laughed.

"Oh you didn't?" said Vick....."Gus was the Middleweight boxing champion in the Marine Core for awhile, back in the 60's...I remember when he did a little professional boxin too...before he bought that bar."added Vick.

"Wow Gus...I had no idea you lived such a colorful life." she said.

"I didn't tend bar my whole life...I did some things." I laughed....

"Yeah,I remember when...."

"That's enough Vick...let's hit the casinos..." I said..

The three of us hit the casinos...I played the quarter machines....Vick and Mabel played Blackjack...We were having a good time...and then the young man who had attempted to acost Mabel in the Buffet walked in...He stood a few feet from where I was playing the slot machine..

"Hey Old head..you disrespected me...and I can't take that lyin down." he snapped.

"Hey Junior...didn't you get enough in the buffet?" I said dryly...

"I'm gon let this slide cause you an old head....but I'm just lettin you know, I don't take bein disrespected lyin down...." he said.

Once again...He didn't see the right cross that landed square on his temple...He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes...

"You don't take what lyin down?...sure you do.." I said as I stepped over him....I walked over to one of the security guards..

"Sir,I think that fellow over there on the floor has had a bit much to drink ." I said.

"Don't worry about it...we'll get him out of here...Hey Al..help me get this drunk out of here." he said.

We continued playing until midnight...Then the three of us got in our car and pulled off...heading
back to Philly...

"I want to thank you Gus....and you too Mr. Vick for a very entertaining evening.." said Mabel.

"Aww you're welcome darlin." I said.

"And speakin of entertainment...aint that the guy you beat up at the buffet?" asked Vick as we drove down the Atlantic City streets.... There he was, His eye was swollen, His lip was swollen and there was a bit of blood on that cheap suit of his...He was stumbling down the street ,holding his jaw...

"Yeah, that is that creep...boy you really put a hurtin on him Mr. Gus." laughed Mabel.

"Yeah...Can you imagine the 'remember when' story he's gonna tell." said Vick...

At that, the three of us burst into gales of laughter and pulled off , out of Atlantic City and on to the highway back to Philadelphia.