The drinks were strong, and the smoke was even stronger. I was really in no rush to go out somewhere and every time I glanced in the direction of the tent; I was being drawn in that direction. I was sitting there quietly on the stoop while my wife, Peter, Gus, Inga and two farmers who stopped by while coming back from the fields were socializing. Somewhere in their conversations, the subject of dominoes came up. Well, my wife was one to brag on me, especially in my presence. She said, “Bill is the best dominoes player around where we live.” While it is true, I play good dominoes I do not know if the best around where we live would be exactly accurate even in a smaller than average neighborhood.
“Well, this is a Monday night and we usually wait and do a walkabout down to Foxy’s on the weekend but let’s go down a see if we can get a match”, Peter said smiling. Suddenly, everyone was moving at speeds that were leaving trails in front of my eyes without asking me what I thought about the idea.
I guess the fact that everyone was standing there looking at me was a sign that the time had come for me to scrape myself off the stoop so I stuck out my hand for assistance on getting to my feet. The potent cocktail of rum, smoke and a little night blindness was swirling in my head as we headed down the dark road riddled with bomb crater size holes. One such hole nearly gobbled me up when I was caught off guard but I somehow managed to catch my balance again using my wife’s shoulder.
Maybe it was the near catastrophic stumble that suddenly brought me back to the present or maybe it was a little paranoia from the smoke that sent a shudder through my body. “Stranger in a strange land” came immediately to mind. What the hell am I doing here in a strange country, on a dark strange road in the company of people I had only just met less than a couple of hours ago?
My eyes darted around in the near total darkness trying to make out shapes to put with the voices that seemed to come from every side. Rounding a corner and sidestepping another axel-breaking pothole, I heard and saw something a little familiar coming up on our right. It was both a little scary and at the same time curiously a little reassuring.
Foxy’s.
