1. Last night, over at Corby's in Post Falls, Dave Corbeil mused that it was about time for his wife and him to hit the Silver Valley. The late Floyd Williams' wife, Mikey, was having an 80th birthday celebration at the Broken Wheel at 1:00 and he wanted to wish her well and see some old friends. Dave told me several times that I ought to come over to the Broken Wheel and I was vague in my response, but I knew I wouldn't go to this party because I didn't really know Mikey nor do I really know her sons. If I really knew Floyd's brother, Rollie, former North Idaho College basketball coach, it would have been fun to see him, but we don't really know each other at all.
I did respond to Dave, however, that since he was going to hit the Valley, he oughta come up to The Lounge and see Cas and that I'd be sure to be there around three o'clock. Turns out that Byrdman also thought he might hit the Valley himself, and, true to his word, he did.
As the late afternoon unfolded at the Inland Lounge, it became a great scene. Dave Corbeil arrived. After he told Byrdman and me about his afternoon tour of the Kellogg bars up to that point he left us and started yakkin' with Kelly Edwards, an old friend of my dad and of Dad's old golfing buddy from Las Vegas, Joe Estes, and I heard Kelly exclaim from the end of the bar, "That's Pert Woolum's kid?" so I shuffled down to him, introduced myself, and he laughed and couldn't tell me enough how much he misses my dad and Joe Estes and kept saying, "So you're Pert Woolum's kid? I'll be damned."
2. As the scene continued to swell at the Inland Lounge, Cas was telling me a great story about
when he and Billy "The Greek" Manthos, whiskey flasks in their tuxedo jacket pockets, served as ushers outside some Catholic church at Ab's wedding in Missoula. Both of us were startled when about fifteen minutes later, who strolled in The Lounge? That's right. The Greek himself. The Greek waded through the crowd by the door -- Corby, Kelly, Ed Miller, John Sevy, Tom Sawyer, and others and made his way to where Byrdman and I were seated and told me all about how he'd heard I'd moved back to Kellogg, how he lived in CdA now, and how much he missed my dad.
Later, John Sevy added to the emerging theme of the afternoon and told me how much he missed my dad. Many of you reading this know that my dad was blind in one eye -- Joe Estes loved calling him a one-eyed fat man (and other colorful words to follow "one-eyed") -- and so John told me a story I'd never heard before. Dick Listoe and John Sevy hunted together. On one trip, John bagged an elk whose horns on one side of the rack were a bit deformed and a knot on the horns had grown over one of the elk's eyes. Dad caught wind somehow that "John Sevy had killed a one-eyed elk". Sevy got toward the end of his story and started laughing and said, "I sure miss your Dad. I guarantee you, if he were alive today and he walked in this joint, he'd see me and right away this whole bar would know that I was John Sevy, killer of a one-eyed elk." I laughed and told him that was a great story and agreed with him: vintage Pert Woolum.
3. The crowd thinned out a bit and Byrdman left to return to CdA. Corby left. The Greek and others went across the street to the Elks Club where they were having a ceremonial dinner to honor longtime members, name the Elk of the Year, and other things. Ed was over there to receive his twenty year pin. I had told him Friday at breakfast to come over to The Lounge after the dinner, that I'd like to see him and Nancy and his pin.
So, I'd been nursing about one short V. O. and water every forty-five minutes over the last three hours or so and was starting to think I'd go somewhere for a quick bite to eat and come back to see Ed. My plan was to ask Cas to have Ed text me when he got there and I'd rush right back up.
But, no sooner did I devise this plan in my head, then Cas told me they had extra chicken-fried steak dinners over at the Elks and asked if I wanted to order one to be delivered for 12 bucks. Perfect! Cas kept my ice water glass filled. Julie delivered the dinners from the Elks. I didn't have to leave to have dinner! Then, lo and behold, just as I was about half way through my chicken-fried steak, Ed and Nancy strolled in. We didn't have a drink. Ed showed me his pin. We made plans to go to CdA and Worley on Sunday. Ed and Nancy left to go home. I finished my dinner, drank more water, and returned home. It was a truly epic late afternoon at The Lounge.
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