Summer In The City: Hot and Painful

Summer In The City: Hot and Painful

As I went into the neighborhood dive on a sidestreet in Cedarhurst, I did notice Ruby wasn’t there but ‘Denny’ was. 

Apparently I forgot that Ruby was on Vacation somewhere in the northeast with a lady friend chasing ‘beefcake’ and drinking.  (If anyone deserves a vacation its Ruby, between patrons stripping, police raids and ‘family guys’ looking to collect on ‘loans’ to friends of the establishment, Ruby was very, very frazzled).

It was a hot Thursday Afternoon when I ate my lunch in the empty bar and Denny was reading ’50 Shades Of Grey’ (no, I didn’t ask).  After a discussion on politics and history, Old Pete, the sanitation guy, strolled in for his afternoon libation.  It was in discussing bars and who would go to them I found out one of the bartenders who worked at the sidestreet was the daughter of the owner of the  Purple Frog in Lynbrook (once a cool place to hang out).

After eating lunch I left to visit Reeta at Game On.  It was a real cool thing to do for a guy just floating around on a Thursday Afternoon because being on the road was dangerous.  Teeny boppers driving Mercedes, Lexus and new Mustangs were running people off the road and causing road rage while elderly drivers observed the road with horror, driving as if in a funeral procession.

While at the Game, I found out from Reeta that it was Develynn’s birthday. Develynn was there with Bud and they wanted to celebrate. 

Bossman (aka Woodro) sent a platter of sandwiches for Develynn along with all kinds of delicious side dishes.  Not to be outdone and always looking for an opportunity to grill, Big Bro grilled some steak he had marinating since the 4^th of July.  Poppy J lets Big Bro (aka ‘Big B’) store all kinds of goodies at the Game.

While all the locals, the kids and the dregulars materialized out of thin air, they all complained about the driving and how Merrick Rd. from Horton to Central had become a NASCAR qualifying drag strip (not as fun as the drag strip off of Route 440 in Blount, Tennessee).  When the choppers flew overhead and started circling I did wonder if someone violated parole again.  But it was worse.

A special report came on the news that an Elderly person drove their car into the Dunkin’ Donuts in Valley Stream, injuring 6, one critically who had to be air lifted to the hospital.  The roads got progressively worse as the day turned to night and the police were nowhere to be seen.  Meanwhile, the party continued and the crowd mellowed out.

Krizz’ee saw the crowd and couldn’t wait to get started as Reeta was finishing up her day which got crazy when Bossman (Woodro) and his wife Amy showed up with the rest of the crowd.  

As barelegged young girls in daisy dukes and sheer halter tops that worked overtime to contain jiggling tits, wandered in from the pool hall next door, a loud thud echoed as the sun went down. 

Nobody inside noticed, nobody outside, who was smoking and joking cared.

Then a siren was heard off in the distance, then several sirens, then fire trucks and ambulances were running vehicles off the road (payback).  About a half hour later Stan D. (a patron, a midweek regular) came into the Game, he was shaking, pale white and totally upset.  Reeta served her last drink of the day to Stan and asked him what was wrong.  Stan started slowly and everybody got quiet as he spoke.

Stan said, “I was there, I saw it!  I was driving my van west on Merrick just past Rockaway and this white SUV crossed over into the other lane and ran over this guy on his Harley, he was sitting at the red light waiting to go and this guy in the white SUV just ran his ass over, he was pinned under his bike.”  Reeta asked, “He couldn’t get the bike off of him.”

Stan said, “No way, the SUV was on top of the bike!  I jumped out of my van and ran to the man under the bike, the guy driving the SUV wanted to move his vehicle and the biker, I screamed, ‘NO’ don’t do anything until the fire department gets here, we might paralyze the guy if we move anything.  The poor son of a bitch was screaming in absolute agony even after the EMT’s and the fire department got there, they med-evac the guy out….I don’t know if he’s gonna make it.”

Stan started to shudder even more as he tried to hold back some tears thinking about what he saw and the trauma it put him in, let alone the victim.

Isley bought Stan a drink as everyone started to talking about the piss poor driving going on and how law enforcement goes after the wrong people.  

Some commented that ‘the law’ doesn’t show up until there is damage to wade through or bodies to sort out.   I just knew I had to get the fuck home and drove like I had six eyes.  Thank God I did.

As I turned from the highway down Broadway in Lynbrook, a man ran out of the Twin Harps Bar right into the street backwards into the path of my car. 

 I swerved into the oncoming lane and missed him as he held his cell phone to his head.  He didn’t even notice me until he turned around to see me at a complete stop looking at him like the asshole he was.  His friends snatched him out of the street.  No cops.

It sure enough is summer in the city.  Innocent people are getting hurt as stupid people pay the price.  Do drive carefully and if you’re hanging out call a cab.

RJ