I was investigating an insurance claim and had a young fellow with me who was in training to become and Insurance Adjuster. It had been a long day of travel and interviewing witnesses and people involved in the situation.
When our work was done we headed back south on our drive home. As we drove through Ear Falls I looked at my watch and realized it was near six o’clock and we had not eaten. We stopped at a small restaurant and when we were done, we walked over to the beer parlor to have a couple of beers and relax before completing our long dark journey.
It was a large men’s only beer parlor, and as we entered the sound of more than a hundred men talking all at the same time met our ears. Since the place was almost full we had to walk to the middle of the room before we found a couple of empty chairs at a small table.
The place served almost exclusively draft beer which arrived in two glasses for each of us. We were tired and thirsty and still had more than a hundred miles of driving to go. We sat facing one of the two bars from which the waiters picked up large trays of draft beer and carried to the patrons. The room was rectangular and since we were in the middle we had a good view of all the tables and men arranged to our left and our right.
This took place over fifty years ago at a time when you could not walk around with a beer in your hand and had to stay seated. If you wished to move to another table the waiter put your drinks on his tray and moved your drinks for you to the new table. The only people standing were the waiters and a few men who were arriving and leaving.
Close to us on our right was a large table of at least ten men who obviously just got off work from the underground Gold Mine near town. The majority of the men in the room worked at the mine. The voices were loud as everyone seemed to be talking, shouting, and laughing at the same time as they enjoyed the company of their friends and workmates.
Our plan was just to have a couple of draft beer and then get right back on the road for home. Just before we drained our last glass a young woman came in the door at the far end of the bar and proceeded to walk in our direction. She was looking carefully at each table of men as she approached the middle of the room. Since women were not allowed to drink in the bar, her presence was highly noticeable and the sound of men’s voices diminished around her as she moved down the length of the room.
When she was close to us and to the bartender she turned and asked him in a voice loud enough for us to hear. “Have you seen John ______ in here tonight?” The bartender replied in a loud voice, while more than a hundred men paused in their talking and drinking, “No, I have not seen him tonight.”
At this point the woman turned around and began to check out each man sitting in the tables near us. The longer she searched the quieter the place became. Each man in the room was praying it was not his wife because someone was in for trouble.
All of a sudden the woman eyes stopped and then drilled into a young fellow sitting with all his friends at the next table to us . Once she had her target she marched brazenly over to him and stood next to his chair and said in a loud accusing manner, “I thought I told you to come right home from work tonight!”
As she shouted these words the last rumble of voices in the background died down. The fellow looked at if he was the youngest man in the room and was about 23 or 24 years old, had dark hair and wore black rimmed glasses. He had on a white shirt so I am guessing he worked in the office at the mine.
He replied by saying in a clear voice, “I’ll be right home once I finish my last draft.”
She immediately reacted to these words by picking up his full glass of beer and pouring it on the top of his head then said, “Okay, now you are finished! Now get the hell home!”
As she whirled around and headed for the exit there was not a single sound in the room. Everyone’s eyes were on the young man who sat there with a soaked head and beer covered glasses. The beer was running off his face, and his shirt and lap were soaking wet. There was not a man in the room who wasn’t thanking his gods that he was not sitting in this man’s seat.
No one in the room moved. The many waiters and the bartender all just stood and stared at this poor individual who would never live down this moment in his life.
Slowly the victim reached into his pocket, dug out a handkerchief, and proceeded to wipe the beer out of his eyes and off his face. He then very slowly and determinedly cleaned his glasses, held them up to the light and put them back onto his face.
Time seemed to stop in the room It was going to be a very painful moment for him to get up and walk the length of the entire room, after his wife, who by this time was out the door.
Then with all eyes on him he raised his right hand high up in the air, stuck up two fingers and said in a strong clear voice, “Two more draft beer please!”
At that second the entire place erupted in a roar of laughter and a hundred men started clapping, whistling and cheering.. They had just watched a young man recover from a most embarrassing situation in a way that instantly elevated him from hen pecked husband to a hero.
We finished our beer and as we walked the length of the bar, each table was rehashing what had occurred and laughing heartily as the door slammed shut behind us.
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