STORY
Lucky
#11
BY: ANDREW MONSTIS
Life After Vegas ………whoo … The Vegas stretch was a long one. It’s hard to be in one place too long. After Vegas we went back to Lucky’s ranch. We had to check the ranch before heading out again. Lucky checked with the folks he had watching the farm, and then stopped by the Post Office in town to get his mail. Waiting while Lucky went inside I sat there watching people heading here and there, living their lives. I rolled down the window and tried to shoo a fly out of the car who had decided my nose was an interesting place to park. Took forever to get that darn fly out of the car. I was thinking what an amazing trip so far. I had to sort out all the things I planned to put in the next chapter about this amazing road trip with this amazing man. Seemed like Lucky was always surprising me with one thing or another, and the substance of this enterprise was just piling up how am I going to translate to everyone. Lucky returned, climbed in and unloaded a pile of mail on the seat between us. He pointed to one letter on top as he started the engine. It was from Mr. Top Spin. “I can’t get him to stop sending me money!” Lucky went on to explain. He was from Buffalo New York originally. Lucky beat him out of a whole bunch of money. Mr. Top Spin was one of those guys Lucky learned something from. “Truly the best follow player I have ever seen” Lucky says. “I remember when we played for days and days, until he went broke. I agreed to play him on the wire and I kept winning that, too. It’s been almost twenty years now and he still sends me checks! I told him ten years ago to forget it and quit sending me money!” Lucky shook his head and chuckled, “Mr. Top Spin said, he always pays my debts and besides, he gained a lesson more valuable than the money. Lucky suggested he do something positive with the money instead of sending it to him. “I hear he’s doing charity pool activities now and taking a few vacations He’s an honorable man.” Lucky opened the mail and showed me the $5,000 check that was in it. Made out just to “Lucky,” the signature on the check said Mark Edwards. He put the check back in the envelope. “I’ll put it with the other I haven’t cashed yet!.”
22 Stroke Magazine - February 2012
“But why don’t you cash the checks?” I asked, remembering Mark from some of his visits to the Northwest. “You could use it right about now.” “Well, he keeps sending it, and I keep telling him not to, so it’s kind of a standoff. Like I said, he’s an honorable man and is keeping his word to pay off the loss.” With a bemused shake of his head, Lucky said, “Stubborn, eh?” I knew Lucky had won a ton of cash over the years, and it seemed to me like he ought to have some of it left. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” I protested. “Can I ask what you’ve been doing with your winnings all these years?” “Oh, some of it went towards the ranch. And I send a little to a couple of charities now and again. Well, I guess maybe most of it, actually. I don’t need much… ‘cept now for them damn pills. Speaking of which, I do need to stop and check in with the Doc Cranford before we go again.” Well, the home stop was short and uneventful. A good night sleep we headed out next day for a spot about 20 driving hours away, and picked a little town down the road where Lucky said he’d heard there was a good local tournament venue. We were now into several months of road play. I want to say again and at the risk of being redundant, Lucky is a wise old codger. We stay only in small towns for the night, avoiding the larger bergs. Each night we check into a decent hotel or motel and then scout out the local pool action. It is better to stick around for days to find players and see their speed but in little town it’s not necessary. Since Lucky does not look like much of a pool player, he always can get some games for one to three bills. He’s grown his beard back some, and still wears that Where’s the Beef hat, and all in all does a reasonable imitation of a retired geezer. In many places he was invited to basically take more money, but he’s careful not to build up a reputation like many road players do. “Next thing you know,” he says, “the jungle drums are telegraphing the next town that you’re coming and they are definitely
ready and waiting to do some hustling of their own or just flat say no.” We do need to win a certain amount each day, just to meet expenses…around a hundred and twenty a day, I figure. It can be expensive to travel these days. I get play too, now and again to contribute to the trip, but truthfully, I’d rather watch Lucky in action than anything else. His subtle maneuvering of the whole show is fascinating to me. This night we hit an empty hole and didn’t make a dime. The weekly tournament had been cancelled, and no one was around to play. I guess the tavern owner got mad at the players who show up and complain about the tables all the time and it went from there. From the looks of the tables I couldn’t blame the local players, but I knew they’d be back the next week. We just came back to the hotel and watched bad TV and the worse movies. As usual, I had to make sure Lucky took his “pills” before he turned in. Better luck tomorrow night, next town. You find out a lot about someone when you ride next to him for hours on end. Lucky’s music tastes are surprisingly eclectic. He likes all kinds of music. I know pretty much everyone likes the Beatles, he knows all the words of every Beatles songs. Who’d have thought Lucky’s favorite tape would be the Beatles Revolver. And the next tape he plugged in was the Who. I think he has good taste. The next day brought us to another town Lucky wanted to hit, partly for the food at a nice café called Donna’s. The food was great. This was a town Lucky played in many years ago and won a ton of money. The waitress told us that they play pool down at this place now on 12th Street. We went over there after dinner. No one was in the place. We asked around but no one talked like they knew what action was. We struck out again. A bum steer. The natural scenery was way too cool. Some of the most beautiful views from the road I have ever seen. We were enjoying one incredible sunset beaming through fields and forest as we drove by. Lucky I was the passenger able to just get mesmerized looking through the tinted glass window.