Page 29 of Minus

We made our way inside and I noticed the beat-to-shit wooden floors had been replaced by polished, tinted concrete. The original planks had no doubt been sold as reclaimed lumber to some trendy condo builder in the Pearl district. Half of the pool tables were gone, as were all the vintage pinball machines. The sawdust and peanut shells on the floor were gone too, likely due to some city ordinance about fucking allergies. The music, geared toward teenaged girls, was pumping in synch with a blinding light show. Had most of the guys in the place not been wearing kuttes, you’d never know this was still a biker bar.

“What the fuck happened to this place?” Clutch shouted. “Leo’s gotta be rolling over in his grave!”

“Leo’s not dead, Clutch.”

“Yeah, but still. He should dig his own grave, lie down, and fucking roll around in it,” Clutch growled out. “Can you believe this shit?”

As dramatic as he was being, he wasn’t wrong. ‘Our kind’ was running out of sacred spaces. Places where we could be ourselves. The world around us was changing rapidly, and much like the gunfighters and outlaws of the wild west, bikers would no longer be tolerated by polite society.

“Let’s go grab a quieter place to sit down and scope the place out,” I said.

I saw a table located in the perfect spot for our purposes. We’d have our backs to a wall, and a clear line of sight from the pool tables, to the front entrance. From that table, we could casually scan the room without attracting attention.

The table was currently being occupied by two of tonight’s few non-biker patrons; a beautiful young, raven haired woman, and a nervous looking young man. They looked more suited for a day of apple picking than hangingout here. Neither of them could have been a day older than twenty-two. These young folks were most certainly not in the right place.

“Wait here a sec,” I said to Clutch, and walked over to their table. “Good evening, y’all,” I said, smiling down at the young lovers. “I couldn’t help but notice the two of you sitting here and I thought I’d come over to lend some assistance.”

“Oh, okay,” the young man said. “That would be great, because no one has come over to take our drink orders or anything.”

I laughed. “No, man, I’m not here on behalf of the wait staff, I’m here to ask you to look around the room for a moment.”

“Why… Why is that?” he asked nervously.

“Well, you see, I’m thinking no one’s been by to take your order, because, despite the décor and this horrible music, this isn’t quite the place for nice young people such as yourselves,” I said. “Go ahead, look around this place. You notice anything all these folks have in common?”

“I… we… I just…,” he sputtered.

“They’re all bikers. That’s right…”

“Ch... Chad.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry, Chad, I’m not here to give you any trouble. In fact, I’m here to save your evening, and possibly your life.”

Ch… Chad and his companion stared up at me in stunned silence.

“Now, I’m gonna guess you two are on a date. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Chad said as the young lady nodded vigorously.

“First date?” I asked, grinning wide.

“S… second,” Chad replied.

“Ahhh, that makes sense,” I said. “The first date went well, but you were afraid you were a little too timid and wanted to show her your ‘bad boy’ side, so you brought her here to show how tough you are. Your college buddies probably told you about this pool hall where bikers hung out andserves cheap, watered down drinks. Am I right, Chad?”

He swallowed in response.

I pulled out a hundred-dollar bill from my wallet, placed it on the table, and motioned towards Clutch. “See that guy standin’ over there?”

Chad nodded.

“That ugly son of a bitch is my best friend, and this here is his favorite table. So, I’m gonna make you two a deal. I’ll give you a hundred dollars for this table. You can use the cash to take your date some place nice. Go somewhere you can talk and get to know each other. Come on Chad, you can’t have a nice conversation in a place like this. All you can get in here is hepatitis or stabbed.”

Chad took the bill and without another word the couple, hand in hand, beat it for the door.

“Ah, young love,” Clutch said smiling as he joined me at the table.

“Those two are lucky the night is still young. They would have had their bones picked clean before too long.”

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