Domino Parlors and Old Fords

Marilyn and I were driving through downtown Edmond when she asked me to stop the car. She wanted to show me the building where the pool hall and domino parlor was once located.

"Pull into the alley,” she said

The only entrance to the domino parlor was through the alley. Edmond condoned dominos but not, it seemed, on Main Street. It was a little different in Vivian, Louisiana where I grew up.

We looked behind the building where the parlor was once located. Replaced by the back entrance of a gift shop, it was not there anymore, but it got me to thinking about the domino parlor and pool hall in Vivian.

My grandfather and Uncle Grady were both pipefitters by trade. The nature of their job often predicated that they were away from home a lot, often in different states, building an electrical generation plant, or such. When they weren't away from home they could usually be found in downtown Vivian, at the pool hall, playing dominos.

When my grandfather finally retired, he spent much of his time in the domino parlor, driving downtown around ten every morning. He generally stayed there until it was time to eat dinner.

I never saw either Grandpa Pitt or Uncle Grady drink a beer or slug a shot of whiskey. I think that Grady was a teetotaler but I heard from my Mother that Grandpa was known to take an occasional nip of whiskey.

Grandpa lived to almost a hundred, but he quit driving sometime in his eighties. It happened abruptly when he pulled out on Louisiana Highway One into the path of an oncoming truck. The collision totaled Grandpa's Ford Fairlane. He was unhurt except for a few bruises and scratches. By this time, Uncle Grady had taken over the reins of family patriarch. He informed Grandpa that he had seen the last of his driving days and he absolutely refused to let him buy a new car.

Losing his driving credentials did not stop Grandpa from frequenting the domino parlor. He began walking to town every morning and then back home at night - even until he was almost ninety years old.

My good friend Rod and I visited the den of iniquity one weekend when we were both home from college. The place reeked of stale beer and cigarette smoke. Old men sat at the table's playing dominoes and they didn't bother looking up when we entered the door.

Red paint on the floor had almost worn away by decades of work shoes and oilfield boots walking across it. The pool tables were probably mahogany but the wood had so many cigarette burns that it was hard to tell. Their red velvet stained almost black. The two teens with arm tattoos and cigarettes in their mouth didn't bother looking up as Rod I gave the place the third degree.

My grandfather died when he was ninety-seven years old. He continued playing dominoes until he became a little senile and I think that he finally forgot how to play.

While Edmond is growing - now the third largest town in Oklahoma - Vivian is in decline. There are no new businesses to speak of, except for the Wal-Mart on Louisiana Highway One. Main Street Edmond is growing while Main Street Vivian is largely a row of empty buildings.

I doubt that most teens today have even heard of dominos, but I bet Grandpa Pitt and Uncle Grady are playing right now with the angels in heaven. I don't know if they have old Fords there, but if they do Grandpa probably drove one to the parlor.

Louisiana Mystery Writer