*Excerpt from upcoming memoir book on my trucking-days.
One of the more “memorable birthdays” I had was when I turned 27. I was delivering in Kentucky to an industrial area that looked somewhat in rough-shape. There was bar and a place to park a semi nearby for the evening, so I decided to celebrate my birthday solo.
The night started out pretty chill. It was a bar that clearly had seen better days. It was an average sized bar. There was about a dozen people 40-60 years old drinking and chilling on a Monday.
It is nice to just hang out with strangers and have a few beers after many miles.
The peace of the evening dissolves as an argument breaks out between two guys toward the back of the bar. From what I can understand is that the two rednecks are related. They are get loud and make accusations at each other.
The bartender and bouncer inform them they must leave.
The two continue to yell at each other as they slowly walk out of the building. The rest of the clientele, the bouncer, and bartender are relieved.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t over yet, but I don’t want to get involved. It’s my birthday. I sip my beer.
The two outside carry on with yelling at each other. The bartender decides to call the police.
The heated conversation continues and escalates into a shoving match. A scuffle ensues.
The bouncer goes outside to break it up before someone gets hurt.
And just like that, the family feud stops fighting between each other and focuses their energy on the bouncer.
Much like many domestic disputes, a family fighting each other will in a moment turn the fight on strangers who are simply trying to help calm the situation.
The family, now warmed from a scuffle, starts yelling at the bouncer and start circling him. This does not look good right now.
All of a sudden, the police show up.
Not in squad cars, but in a police helicopter. The helicopter points its powerful spot light on the three men. Over a loud speaker, the police tell them to break it up and leave.
Everybody goes there way and everything goes back to business as usual.
An actual squad car never showed up. Just a helicopter.
I order another birthday beer and wonder if this is common for a Monday around here. I also feel like I was just in the back drop of an episode of the TV-series “COPS.”
