With a capital "T" that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
Rack 'em Wiggins.... Circa 1960-something.. Bud's Pool Hall in Liberty was the connector between a kid playing in the dodge ball circle, to - one day parking on the low road at William Jewell. Learnt, I reckon they call it. It was a fun place, with good people, and we actually did play pool.
Virtually every kid (OK, boys anyways) in Liberty of the age of "what's that dang hair doing down there?" smoked their first cigarette at Bud's Pool Hall. For shame. For shame, except, every household in the United States had 7 ashtrays, the teller at the bank assisted you between puffs, airplanes had separate sections for those who do and those who don't. Heck, even McDonald's had those flimsy tin ashtrays...
Bud's was more than that though. It's where we learned all them words you couldn't say on TV or radio. Some folks didn't care too much if their kids went in there to be edjumacated, some, you could tell by the way kids slid in the door sideways, cared a lot.
I think, for the most part, we turned out OK. The timing was such (1968) that in addition to the "T" that rhymed with "P" that stood for Pool, movies were newly adorned with the moniker "R" rated. (OK, I didn't remember, but, the first R rated movie was "The Split" with Jim Brown and Gene Hackman.")
And then there was the "T" that rhymed with "P" and the "R", but too... the disgusting "X" rated movies. Now there were some "Y" (youths) from "L" (Liberty) that would drive the "I" (interstate) to some "D" (Drive Inn) across the City, to watch an "X" movie. I am perfect hear me roar, "V" never did that. OK, maybe 5 times. ALRIGHT damnit, two dozen I guess.
Some of the "Y" did end up with grades in school of "F", but, Bud's, cigs, words like D, H, S, F.. movies of R, X... wasn't a direct path to "F" (as in felon.) In fact, I'd stake my life on it that we were raised R (not Royal, but right) and our proportion of felons was extremely low compared to the vast majority of America.
I SO loved "L" (Liberty) back in the day. If'ns one ever rode their "B" (bike) to the Square, you could go to the corner "M" (Mattinglys) to go downstairs to look at the "T" (toys).. then pedal down the hill to Buds... on the way home, past the Corner Bar, a halfa block away from TSBC (The Second Baptist Church)...a few more blocks home to the house by WJC.
The abbreviated (STS, so to speak) symbolical life of an adolescent BITD (Back in the day) in Liberty, Missouri. When you think about it, it kinda makes sense. From home to the dime store, to the pool hall, to the corner bar, to church, to home. Growing up in a nutshell.
Somewhere in between I graduated from HS at WJC and from WJC at the HS, but that's a S for another day.
Good ole' Middle America, family values with a smidgen of pool hall, bar, church, home thrown in. Poor kids today, they've torn down the Pool Hall, built the CH (City Hall) in it's place, and in the B (Basement) is the PS (Police Station.) The eyes of Missouri are upon you nowadays Sonny - run along and play Pokemon, or Madden, or Roblox, whatever the trend is nowadays.
How did we turn out? MB, aka Mixed Bag. Some wanted to get the H outta D (Liberty) and never look back, some left, returned, some of us never left and will have our ashes strewn somewhere AT (About Town).
We've got it all here. We have the weather of Canada sometimes, the influence and sunshine of the Southerners, the occasional G (Gruffness) of the E (Easterners), sorry E (Easterners), the Horace Greely C (Chicness) of the dadgum W (Westerners).. We're a ML (Miller Lite), BOW (Box of wine), C (Champagne), W (wine, a tad, but at church only), O (O'douls), S (Starbucks seven dolla coffee) mixture of life. Mutts, with an occasional purebred mixed in.
We're not P (prudes) BTA (but then again) we really tire of when we're parked next to you at one of our many now (TL) traffic lights) and you've got the radio cranked, we (along with our 7 year old grandson) hear nothing but those D, H, S words, with many F's thrown in.. P (pattooey), which, brings us right back where we started.
SIOOBW (Spit it out ole blog writer), what are you trying to say. I love where I live, where I've lived, and where I'll die. Good people, not much upsets the apple cart, a few eye rollers here and there, but we can hear a dirty joke and not wanna file a lawsuit. My version of GP (good peeps).
The times they are a changin. We no longer waive at every other car. Hell, we do that we'd need shoulder replacement in addition to knee/hip replacement. There has been a shooting or two, folks lock their cars and houses now...
Still, you can maybe take Salem out of the Country, but, you can't take the L (Love) out of Liberty.
By HG (Henry Gibson) forward by BT and CW (Bud Temple and Charlie Wiggins.)
Love, VT, you know
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