It was a Saturday afternoon in the early 1960's and we were headed for Haverhill. This was a small, mostly all Catholic town northwest of Laurel about ten miles away. Our destination was a pool room/ general store owned by two sisters named Sylvia and Clemie. The car load would include a few of my high-school classmates- usually Tracy, LaVerne, and Rick.
There was also another store and/or tavern across the street called Blum's. We never went in there as, I guess, we thought that it was more of an adult hang-out because it served beer. We never wanted to get real pushy in Haverhill as we considered ourselves as outsiders because we weren't Catholic.
But, we arrived usually after lunch-time and were ready to chalk up those cues. The building had two sides. One side was like something out of a-turn-of-the-century scene. It had shelving that went all the way to the ceiling filled with merchandise only who knew what. Even at the time, 1960's, some of the merchandise had to be considered antiques. I always regretted not attending the estate auction held in the mid 1990's after the last sister passed away. That had to be like going into a time warp.
It was the other side this day we were headed. It was just us Laurel boys playing a little Eight Ball or Rotation, smoking a few cigarettes, drinking pepsi, and eating some potato chips. That was living! Yes, we did tease those poor ladies unmercifully, but, they looked forward to seeing us as we provided entertainment for them on occasion. A great way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.
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