The Weekenders Magazine: Issue 2

Julio returns to the table, makes two shots, then misses again. He steps back and looks at the table. I see he's watchin' the Kid out of the corner of his eye. I'm thinkin' about Gracie as I take my next shot. We went out lots of times before she moved out of here. It's like every year we would date serious for a month or two before we split. I sink two more then miss again.

“Hey, what's up,” Crackerhead Chuck says to us as he approaches the pool table.

“Chuck,” I say.

Julio nods in Chuck's direction, as he crushes his cigarette out in an ash tray.

“Can anyone spare some?”Crackerhead Chuck asks. “I need to eat.”

Everyone who runs the neighborhood knows Crackerhead Chuck lives at home. He's Mama's boy, and Mama would never let him go hungry. He's hungry for that fix. That fix that take him away from being right and perfect all the time to just bein' normal.

“Maybe you can play me next game Chuck,” Julio says, nodding to the Kid's table. “If you do right, I give you a cut.”

Julio and Chuck done this setup before, I can tell. Settin' the Kid up two tables down to cough up some cash on a bet. A bet that Julio knows he's gonna win.

“Okay,” Crackerhead says. He sits on a stool by the racks of cue sticks. I can see his hands shake a little. He wants that fix.

Julio clears the table but he makes it look hard. The rest of his balls don't go smooth into the pockets, but bounce a bit. He's so good he can make it look hard. The Kid's watchin' too. I see a grin on the Kid's face. He's already been suckered. Kid's followin' the bait, waitin' to take a bite.

I sit on a stool and watch Crackerhead Chuck rack the balls.

I think of his sister, of her family. She turned into a fine lady, one of the lucky ones that's out of here now. Her Mama was the strong one of the family and her firstborn, Charles, was her whole life. Her Daddy didn't do much 'cept work and watch TV. He lost his will under the constant nagging of the Misses.

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