by Richard Wren
CHAPTER 31
Josh didn’t expect any real trouble. After all, there was nothing illegal about a pool hall, unless they were operating without a city license or something. He thought all he would have to contend with was being a complete outsider.
The door opened just enough to see half of a Chinese face.
A rather belligerent “Who are you?” in English.
Josh answered in Chinese.
“I guess I’m what you might call a ‘pool shark,’ looking for a good game.”
“You want to play pool here?”
“That’s why I’m here!”
“It’s a private club!”
“You got any really good players here? I’d be interested in playing against your best player, maybe for a hundred bucks?”
That got him in. The room was quite large and filled with eight regulation tables. Six in the front room and two toward the rear of the hall. It was more like a private club with pool tables than a hall. One side of the hall had a bar and what looked like a small restaurant.
Josh could smell Chinese food and cigarettes. The hall was thick with cigarette smoke. At first, no one took notice of him. Gradually, at the tables nearest to him, the play stopped and he was stared at.
The guy that had spoken to him at the door, called for attention and said;
“This guy wants to play pool. Says he’ll take on anyone for a hundred bucks a game!”
Josh added quickly, in Chinese, “I got tired of playing against the amateurs at the “Y”. A Chinese guy there told me about you guys. I’m just looking for some real competition!”
Toward the side, sitting at a table near the bar, a heavy set, middle aged, gray haired Chinese man waved a hand in the air and called out, “Over here!”
“Sit!” he said. “Who are you?”
Josh told him his real name and that he worked for the U.S. parks and was on vacation. He crossed his fingers, hoping that his name wasn’t already on somebody’s list.
“You’re pretty good?”
“I think so.”
“Willing to play for money?”
“Yeah. Sure!”
“Okay, this is my joint. I handle all the bets. That okay with you?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
“Okay, you’ll play the winner at whichever table clears first. We usually play for twenty-five bucks a game, okay? Plus five that goes to me, Okay? Anything over twenty-five, it’s put up or shut up and I hold the stakes. Okay?”
Josh was tempted to say “okay” right back at him but settled for, “Sounds fair to me!”
“Okay! Want something to eat?”
“Tea and rice?”
“Okay,” was the answer, accompanied by a snap of the fingers and an order placed with the resultant waiter.
In a short time a table came free. The owner called the winner over to his table. Turning to Josh he said, “I’m Chan. This is Henry Yu. Henry, this is Josh. Josh says he’s pretty good and wants to play for money. Okay?”
“Eight ball?” Henry asked.
“Eight ball!” answered Josh.
“How much?”
“Chan said you guys usually play for twenty-five but I can play for more if you want.”
“Twenty-five sounds okay to me, at least for the first game.”
Josh had barely had enough time to watch his opponent play in his previous match. He thought he would be pretty easy to beat, but he couldn’t afford to be over-confidant. He had to win in order to continue playing and have any chance to direct the conversation around to Charley Fong.
