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The Croesus Ring
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by Manuel L. Morales IMMY'S Cellar is the best bar in town, everybody says so; GIs and Filipinos alike leave the place satisfied with the drinks and the service. And when the drinks and the company pall, as sometimes they do, Jimmy always can be depended upon to liven things up. Jimmy owns the place but he acts as bartender most of the time because he says he got his start that way. Jimmy himself is a man of indeterminate age and nationality, probably with a touch of English blood i'n his veins. How he managed to escape internment in Santo T omas is a tale that Jimmy loves to t ell. But theTe is one story that Jimmy has told nobody except me, and I got it out of him when he was in an expansive mood. One afternoon I was perched on a stoor in front of the counter, the only custom~ er in the house, when Jimmy started the ball rolling by saying, "Working in a bar like I do, I meet all sorts of people. I have been a bartender off and on for maybe twelve years. And the type of man I'm not familiar with just does not exist. There is one fellow whom I remember welI, though I met him only twice, because of a story he told me." HWell, how's business nowadays?" I hastily interrul'ted, leery of a boring monologue. I thought then that I had heard all of Jimmy's stories. ,"Oh, very good; in fact, it's downright scandalous. As I was saying, this fellow told me a most unusual story, most unu-
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I sighed and resigned myself to listening. Besides, I might get a drink on
the house with Jimmy in this mood. "You've heard of Alfredo P. Villoz?" he asked. As I straigh1lemed up and nodded, I felt a prick of interest, for who had not heard of Villoz, the millionaire who died in 1941 and left his entire estate to charity? "Well, this man I'm talking aboutret's call h im J ao--met Villoz one night at t he J ai Alai Keg Room in the most unusual way. Joe was at that time in dire financi al straits, as they say it in books. Besides, his pretty wife had just died in childbirth and as he couldn't work a lick with her always on his mind, h e got the sack, naturally. He had just about decided to end it all, like in the shows. But the sporting instinct in him demanded one last fling; sO he sold everything he had and now we find him at the K:eg Room. And what does he do when he steps in but bump into old man Villoz who was going out. Villoz is knocked down but he is unhurt, only dazed, sort of. He looks at his hand and sees that the ring on his finger is no longer there bu·t is lying On the floor right )lndJer his very nose. People rush up to help the rich c>ld man. But he waves them alI aside, picks up the ring; looks at Joe queerly, and gaes off on his way." "Are you trying to tell me in your crude, roundabout manner tbat Joe was houn<1ed to death by Villoz?"
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