One Night In Bali

One Night In Bali

by Paul McCann

Sitting at a bar in Bali , Pitch watched all the goings on quietly drinking on his own .He overheard all of the loud conversations , arguments and the laughter in a cacophony of sound when suddenly a tall man walking in among the crowd and broke a table in two with a slam of his fist . Then he stood there looking around at everyone . The whole bar went quiet . Everyone  tried to get out of his way as he walked around like he owned the joint,

Pitch bought this  crazy man a drink and asked him to join him and  they both sat down for a talk. Slowly the conversation and laughter returned around the bar .

The man with the great big hands looked at Pitch  and said ,

“Thank you for the free drunk  . What’s your name ? “

A quiet reply came back ,

“ The names Pitch , I got  it from my coach during the  years I played baseball . I can see you’re a straight talking kind of guy . So what’s your name ?

The closed man his big  fists then smiled and said ,

“Well I was handed with the name of Jones and my father tagged me Sorrowful Jones because I was never a happy child he said and so it’s kind of stuck with me now all these years “

Both the men kept talking away and  became good friends  in the short time they spent there and by the end of the  night the bar closed and Pitch watched this big guy walk away along the street into he night and suddenly a crowd of young men presented themselves in a circle around Sorrowful Jones . With knives in their hand against  a pair of fists a fight started . Pitch went to where his car was parked opening the boot he grabbed a solid baseball bat went up help his friend ,

In a short moment of time on the dark side town Sorrowful Jones and Pitch left their mark as the group of thugs lay unconscious on the ground .

Sorrowful Jones looked relieved said .

“ Thought my number was up until you came to play with me on first base Pitch . Thanks my friend “

“ So what was their problem “?

Pitch asked

“ Oh I guess they were upset because I smashed their crooked little card table earlier on in the bar and so they were waiting for their turn even up the score and as you see they all came well prepared ,but they never counted on getting a lesson in baseball .

They both laughed and Pitch asked so why did you smash that table anyway ?”

Sorrowful ones replied ‘

“They’ve been making money with their crooked card games for a while . I checked it out one morning when no one was around and the tables rigged with

mirrors and secret drawers with planted cards inside so they weren’t happy with me for upsetting their little money maker  .”

Pitch nodded his head and said .

“Can I give you a lift home “?

Sorrowful Jones smiled and replied 

“ You give me a reason to smile which is a rare event Pitch . Thanks but I think I’ll have to be leaving Bali tonight and I’d rather walk away from here knowing no one knows where I am am or where I’ll be  going . it helps me to all the loose ends  . “

Pitch replied 

“No problem big guy . I can understand  , see as I say ,  you’re a straight talking kind of man .

There was an honest reply ,

“ I’m just a man who is doing the best I can but these days no one gives a damn about things like that “ 

 Pitch reached out his baseball bat and said 

“I’d like you to take this as keep it as a gift from me because I’m someone who does gives a damn about things like that “

Sorrowful Jones took it and smiled back at  Pitch who  was amazed when Sorrowful Jones put his big arms around Pitch and gave him a hug that nearly squashed him in the process 

Sorrowful Jones said ,

“ You’ll find me somewhere on the sorrowful edge of town .

Onwards to freedom good friend “

They parted company as  the rain fell down around the dark edge of town .

The End