Too good to last.
In my early twenties I was restless. I had graduated from college and while I was commissioned in the Army I didn’t get put on Active Duty. The girl I dated in college moved on and I can’t blame her. I was working a job that I didn’t like and didn’t pay particularly well. The answer to all of these problems, according to my twenty-four year brain was go out most nights, drinking with friends.
On weekends, flush with money from Payday, we would close down our favorite bar and head out looking for food. Before it closed the Taco Maker was one spot and the other was a Ruby’s diner. Ruby’s was down at the end of Thayer Street that was buried deep in the heart of Brown University. Ruby’s was a magical place that had a great menu and was a great place to get breakfast at two in the morning.
One night I was out with my frequent coconspirator Fred and we had closed the bar down. Naturally we wanted breakfast and to keep talking about art, writing and film. What else are a couple of art inclined guys in their twenties to do? Where to eat. In Providence at the time there was a myriad of choices, New York System in Olneyville, Joanne’s Silver Top Diner (sadly gone), Haven Brothers, The Seaplane Diner on Allen’s Avenue, Ruby’s, Hole in the Wall, Felini’s Pizzeria and a slew of others.
We hadn’t been to Ruby’s in awhile so that was our choice. We managed to park a few blocks away, which for Thayer Street on summer, weekend night, was pretty good. We walked the few blocks, deep in conversation about the excellent breakfast food that awaited us. Except that when we got to Ruby’s the building was locked and dark. There was a sign saying that it was closed permanently. We would later found out that Brown was going to demolish the building to build a bigger one to better suit the university’s needs.
Our alcohol fueled hunger won out over our disappointment and we decided to walk up to the more commercial end of Thayer street in search of food. While we were walking three or four guys our age ran up to us. One of them pointed at me and said; “He’s the one…he’s the one that did it.”
It was at that point that I couldn’t help but notice he was bleeding from a gash on his forehead. I was certain it was not my handy work so I cleverly said; “What’d I do?”
“You smashed me in the face with a brick.”
“Nope, wasn’t me. If I had hit you in the face with a brick you wouldn’t be talking.” I said, because I thought it sound tough and smart. In my defense I had been trained as an infantryman and was confident that I could have done a better job than his true assailant.
“No, your the guy who did it. Don’t lie.” A couple of things occurred to me, in short order. One they had been drinking too. Two they outnumbered us and three things were get a bit tense. I was certain we were seconds away from a fight. Then Coconspirator Fred said; ” No, it wasn’t him. I’ve out drinking with him all night. But you know what, we should all go find the guy who did it and kick his ass.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Lets all go find the guy and fuck him up.” It was the most Jedi Mind Trick I had ever witnessed, until Fred said; “Yeah, but first we should go get something to eat.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea.” One of them said and like that we walking up Thayer Street with them to go to a sandwich shop called “hole in the wall”. We ordered and ate in a show of great bonhomie. Our repast finished we agreed to going looking for the wielder of the brick. We went in different directions with the unspoken understanding that we were all going to our respective homes.