My Clean Well Lighted Place

I've always liked Hemingway's theory about that -- a place where a man could go for a cocktail and seek out his small bit of sanity in an otherwise crazy world. And last night I was there.

I spent the day at the office, working on cases with Stu and Vince, coming up with strategies for obtaining justice for our clients while getting paid for our efforts. Around 5:30 I told them I missed Victor, our barkeep at Trulucks downstairs, and wished to visit him. Convincing my co workers to join me didn't take much of my persuasive skill.

The western corner of the bar was open, and Vince and I grabbed some stools. We ordered. Victor beamed -- I hadn't seen him in some weeks. As we drank our adult beverages, I realized something -- Victor may not have heard about Alan's death. Alan romanced many a lady there at Trulucks, and Victor was his man.

So I asked Victor if he had heard about Alan -- he said he hadn't been in in weeks. I told Victor he would be in no more, and his face dropped. He grabbed his water glass, and we toasted to our fallen friend.

Stuart joined us, and by then Mike the pianist had arrived. He's been there for years, and we dig each other -- I always tip him well, and he plays the Sam Cooke I request. Stuart asked him to play Bill Withers' "Sunny Day," and Mike did, though the lady singer didn't really know the song. No wonder -- it came out 30 years before the millennial was born.

Vince and I shared some bar food, and we talked. The place filled up, as it always does. We saw some young SunTrust bankers at the bar -- the next generation of patrons.

My office has been at that building for 22 years now. Changes are coming -- SunTrust sold its interest to a group of Brazilians called, mysteriously, "The Brothers." We had early negotiations about staying -- they want to raise the rent to high market rates, and initially everyone refused.

Stu and Joel, the true stakeholders, have been looking to buy office condos Downtown. But now Joel has asked me to sit in on a meeting with the Brothers realtors -- Joel has an idea about bringing in new tenants, including a hot shot lawyer originally from Italy, and see if it can be a go. Politically incorrect Joel told me I'll love this new guy: "He's VERY Italian and VERY New York -- the kind of guy who made you love guineas when you grew up on Long Island."

So we'll see. Over the years, my other haunts, like Tobacco Road, and Fox's, have, like Joe Dimaggio, left and gone away.

Trulucks remains. It's wonderful to have it in the building where I still work, at least some of the time.

Victor is my age, and not retiring any time soon. He still has alimony to pay, to a "beautiful Midwestern girl" who married him for her financial future.

We laugh about that, as we do other foibles about being a man. I really, really dig the place...