A Little Brando Maybe

Last night I was playing pool at the Abbey. Maz had ruled the table for several games. My previous loss was due to a double-miss on a game-ending corner shot on the 8-ball. While waiting my next turn at the champ, I watched the popular bar on Driggs Avenue filled with young people. I spoke to several sci-fi fans about RESIDENT EVIL and a BBC correspondent about the hung parliament. We agreed that Gordon Brown was a wanker and David Cameron a posh tosser. His match against Maz was marred by several scratches. His pool cue was missing the tip from the ferule.

"Your stick's accent is 100% Cambridge." It was a good guess and he admitted to having graduated from that prestigious university. "Playing pool well is the sign of a misspent youth."

His blonde girlfriend thought that was funny. She was a literary agent.

"I handle mostly non-fiction." She would have been beautiful in any bar in New York. Young, smart with long legs. Her curly hair was not natural counted her tale about working only with the truth. Her friend lost to Maz and after they left he asked me, "Would you slept with her?"

"No." I am faithful to Fenway's mom.

"No." Maz is astounded by my self-imposed celibacy.

"She's not my type." No one believes my restraint,mostly since my reputation as a ladies man is world-wide. I looked around the bar. The women in the Abbey were laughing with the freedom of youth. None of them had eyes for a man in his late-50s. I had once looked like an Irish Brando. Probably still do but more like his appearance in APOCALYPSE NOW. I'm overweight, but he was a giant in that film. I dropped 4 quarters into the pool table slot and I said, "Not a single woman in here who is my type.

"I don't worry about types." Maz was a free agent as was I at his age.

40.

Almost 38 years ago.

Women don't look at me the way they used to regard me. I accept the ruin of time and racked the fifteen balls tight. After Maz's break I ran the table with a series of combos and bank shots. The next player was a black girl in her 20s. She was wearing a short black skirt.

"Nice shooting."

"Thanks."

I lost once more on the last shot.

Better than the first.