Life Experiences, BE THEY GOOD OR BAD

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

My friend, Mr. Posey...


The old man sat in a broken down and shabby little shack. Edged just a few yards above the river and a few yards north of the wooden bridge crossing that river. The road in front of his home was only about 7 feet away. He had a table sitting right outside that needed great repair (as did the front door) and it was there solely for playing dominoes.
In Spring , Summer and Fall --WITH WEATHER PERMITTING, George(that is his real name by the way, age 76),- would be up and out there waiting for his "regular customers." That is the four or five other old men that stopped by on a regular basis to sit most of the day playing dominoes with cantankerous ole George.
I was a new to "town living" young lad , had just been moved about two blocks away, after my father's death. My only escape from my infinitely deep pain became (when allowed), sitting in on the game when a vacant seat became available. Which happened on a regular basis as the five old men were not in the best of health. But George, cantankerous ole George always seemed to be healthy enough to come out with his ivory set of dominoes(ancient set) to wait for enough players to start the day's play! Play they had been carrying on for about twenty years!

Within a couple weeks after my initial introduction to this little "gang", I WAS ADOPTED IN BY ALL AS A NEW -REGULAR CUSTOMER!
It soon got so bad that I could not walk by on my way into town, without being called over to play a few hours!
Especially after old man Steve(Uncle Steve he was called) , got very sick and quit coming for about six months.
Now this playing started when I was age fifteen and went on for two years. One of the old men, was called Posey, he lived one block away and I'd walk him home after the game often because he would tell me much about my father's life from decades before my birth! He had told me upon our first meeting that he had known my father for over 40 years! We became good friends, me at age fifteen and he at age 79 !...
Thus when partners were to play as a team against another set of partners he always chose me to be his partner. It worked out great as we had about an 85% win ratio against the others regardless of how they partnered up!
Naturally this pleased us greatly and infuriated the living hell out of ole cantankerous George(who thought himself, the world's best domino player)!
Often so much so that he would start cursing, I mean real cursing in anger! And do so especially if he got stuck with that "damn double six domino"(as he cursed it),which did seem to happen to him on a regular basis, more than it did with the other three players at the table!
And when it did, he often would grab that cursed domino and throw it out into the road. This antic went on all summer until......

One early morn, in September, weather was cool and a very nice day, I went there to play with the old geezers(term said with great fondness).
As it happened I had walked by Posey's house on my way and met him coming out of his front yard. We walked slowly that day as he talked about his life and he stopped to rest on an old stump about halfway to George's shack. I COULD TELL SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH MY FRIEND BUT WHEN ASKED HE JUST REPLIED -HE'D HAD A BAD NIGHT'S SLEEP.
We must have talked for over an hour and he said he had rested enough, we walked on.
But I could tell he was "pissed off" at his weakness , illness and even his old age by comments he had previously made during our long conversation.

We arrived and George was sitting at the domino table talking to Walker(another old feller that sometimes played and played damn well).
Without even letting us say hello, George pops up to say- "Lets play doubles right off the bat today" "Shall we?"!
Now this was new as doubles(teams) were never played right of the bat , never! I was shocked and gave Posey that look..
He smiled and said to George, "Well why not George, you guys may even get lucky today and win one."
Now this comment- so very unusual for Posey to make, pleased the living hell out of me! But to ole cantankerous George it brought nothing but a damn very angry look!
Which sent me to cloud nine, as George was my least favorite of the five old men. As he was jealous of not only Mr. Posey's great playing abilities but even more so of, this young whipper snapper, that had showed up beating the old men on a regular basis playing heads up..(my dad taught me to play at age 5!)
And that compounded because Posey and I as a team where truly awesome- almost able to read each other hand through the backs of the dominoes--uncanny as hell it was !

WE SIT AND BEGIN TEAM PLAY...
After four defeats in a row, George and his partner asked for Posey and I to swap our seats, so as we each would be playing behind a different opponent!
THIS WAS AN UNUSUAL REQUEST BUT WE AGREED, KNOWING IT WAS GEORGE WANTING TO PLAY IN FRONT OF ME- SO AS TO CONTROL ME, AS HE HAD NO LUCK TRYING THAT WITH MR. POSEY!

Play resumes, we crush them next two games with even greater ease, winning by a much larger margin each time! George was now red-hot with ANGER.
Next game, I stick George with that "damn double six" and it pissed him off to the damn max..
He grabs it and throws it out into the middle of the road!
And that is when it happened- I saw Posey angry for the first time!
For Mr. Posey stood up, grabbed his walking cane and raised it over his head, as if to strike the(thoroughly "pissed off") ole cantankerous George!.......

to be continued later....(Posey shows George , how an honorable man acts)....-Tyr

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[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

My friend, Mr. Posey...


The old man sat in a broken down and shabby little shack. Edged just a few yards above the river and a few yards north of the wooden bridge crossing that river. The road in front of his home was only about 7 feet away. He had a table sitting right outside that needed great repair (as did the front door) and it was there solely for playing dominoes.
In Spring , Summer and Fall --WITH WEATHER PERMITTING, George(that is his real name by the way, age 76),- would be up and out there waiting for his "regular customers." That is the four or five other old men that stopped by on a regular basis to sit most of the day playing dominoes with cantankerous ole George.
I was a new to "town living" young lad , had just been moved about two blocks away, after my father's death. My only escape from my infinitely deep pain became (when allowed), sitting in on the game when a vacant seat became available. Which happened on a regular basis as the five old men were not in the best of health. But George, cantankerous ole George always seemed to be healthy enough to come out with his ivory set of dominoes(ancient set) to wait for enough players to start the day's play! Play they had been carrying on for about twenty years!

Within a couple weeks after my initial introduction to this little "gang", I WAS ADOPTED IN BY ALL AS A NEW -REGULAR CUSTOMER!
It soon got so bad that I could not walk by on my way into town, without being called over to play a few hours!
Especially after old man Steve(Uncle Steve he was called) , got very sick and quit coming for about six months.
Now this playing started when I was age fifteen and went on for two years. One of the old men, was called Posey, he lived one block away and I'd walk him home after the game often because he would tell me much about my father's life from decades before my birth! He had told me upon our first meeting that he had known my father for over 40 years! We became good friends, me at age fifteen and he at age 79 !...
Thus when partners were to play as a team against another set of partners he always chose me to be his partner. It worked out great as we had about an 85% win ratio against the others regardless of how they partnered up!
Naturally this pleased us greatly and infuriated the living hell out of ole cantankerous George(who thought himself, the world's best domino player)!
Often so much so that he would start cursing, I mean real cursing in anger! And do so especially if he got stuck with that "damn double six domino"(as he cursed it),which did seem to happen to him on a regular basis, more than it did with the other three players at the table!
And when it did, he often would grab that cursed domino and throw it out into the road. This antic went on all summer until......

One early morn, in September, weather was cool and a very nice day, I went there to play with the old geezers(term said with great fondness).
As it happened I had walked by Posey's house on my way and met him coming out of his front yard. We walked slowly that day as he talked about his life and he stopped to rest on an old stump about halfway to George's shack. I COULD TELL SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH MY FRIEND BUT WHEN ASKED HE JUST REPLIED -HE'D HAD A BAD NIGHT'S SLEEP.
We must have talked for over an hour and he said he had rested enough, we walked on.
But I could tell he was "pissed off" at his weakness , illness and even his old age by comments he had previously made during our long conversation.

We arrived and George was sitting at the domino table talking to Walker(another old feller that sometimes played and played damn well).
Without even letting us say hello, George pops up to say- "Lets play doubles right off the bat today" "Shall we?"!
Now this was new as doubles(teams) were never played right of the bat , never! I was shocked and gave Posey that look..
He smiled and said to George, "Well why not George, you guys may even get lucky today and win one."
Now this comment- so very unusual for Posey to make, pleased the living hell out of me! But to ole cantankerous George it brought nothing but a damn very angry look!
Which sent me to cloud nine, as George was my least favorite of the five old men. As he was jealous of not only Mr. Posey's great playing abilities but even more so of, this young whipper snapper, that had showed up beating the old men on a regular basis playing heads up..(my dad taught me to play at age 5!)
And that compounded because Posey and I as a team where truly awesome- almost able to read each other hand through the backs of the dominoes--uncanny as hell it was !

WE SIT AND BEGIN TEAM PLAY...
After four defeats in a row, George and his partner asked for Posey and I to swap our seats, so as we each would be playing behind a different opponent!
THIS WAS AN UNUSUAL REQUEST BUT WE AGREED, KNOWING IT WAS GEORGE WANTING TO PLAY IN FRONT OF ME- SO AS TO CONTROL ME, AS HE HAD NO LUCK TRYING THAT WITH MR. POSEY!

Play resumes, we crush them next two games with even greater ease, winning by a much larger margin each time! George was now red-hot with ANGER.
Next game, I stick George with that "damn double six" and it pissed him off to the damn max..
He grabs it and throws it out into the middle of the road!
And that is when it happened- I saw Posey angry for the first time!
For Mr. Posey stood up, grabbed his walking cane and raised it over his head, as if to strike the(thoroughly "pissed off") ole cantankerous George!.......

to be continued later....(Posey shows George , how an honorable man acts)....-Tyr

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Conclusion of the story-Tyr

Now George stands there in awestruck shock as Posey began to speak saying--
George I should just hit you with my cane but I won't. I am going to tell you what an absolute ass you've been this entire time this young man has played domino's with us.
I 've sat here for several months and watch you curse ,and throw that domino out into the street. Then command that young man to --"go fetch"!
First, he is not a dog nor is he to be ordered as if you own him. Why he has not hit you himself baffles me. You treat the boy like dirt.
And here is how it is going to be from now on. You get to choose!
I've known you for over 45 years and I've been coming here better part of twenty years to play domino's with you-but
that ends today forever if you don't stop treating this young man like a dog.
If you do not apologize to him and ask his forgiveness! I mean it- you decide!
But know this, your decision is binding. I'll never step foot here again nor speak to you again if you choose to not do as I request
I am just ashamed of myself for not speaking up much sooner. Its a black mark on me. A sad one at that!
To which Mr. Posey turned to me and said-
Young man, I beg your forgiveness in my sitting here this long and not speaking up to stop this bad behavior.
Now suddenly, I have that thoroughly astonished and shock look that George has!
I WAS SO SHOCKED THAT INSTEAD OF REPLYING I JUST NODDED A YES FOR AN AFFIRMATION!
Then Mr. Posey turned back to look George right in the eyes and say. Well George, come on, I do not have all day.
Close your gaping hole and start to speak.
I look at George and the old man is trembling a bit, Walker is sitting there at the table awestruck and I got the feeling nobody had ever seen Mr. Posey mad like this!
I had seen this type of thing before, when my father got righteously angry and it was an astonishing sight to behold. A sight a person never forgets -for you see fire in the eyes blazing hot, you see blood a'boiling mad and you hear that "beat the gates of hell down determination" in the powerful voice speaking!!
One learns here in the South that men like that live and breath. And tis wise to never force an issue hard enough to get to see that side!
For usually very serious damages results to some person's body... usually to the fool that brought this inner strength/powerful spirit to the forefront.

After about half minute more, George still has struggled to speak- I thought he was having an heart attack myself!

The Posey says, speak now or I am leaving..

George then starts- speaking and apologizing to Mr.Posey, instead of to me.
Mr.Posey saw it too(the avoidance tactic) and interrupted him by saying. I need no apology , this young man deserves one, not me George!
Apologize to him and promise to act like a DECENT MAN FROM NOW ON!
George turns to me and says- I am sorry for cursing and treating you so badly. Posey is right, I 've been an ass.
Do you forgive me, if I promise to never do any of that again?
Now, I am taken aback, because as the previous heated conversation had went forth, I had become quite confident that GEORGE WOULD NEVER APOLOGIZE!
Now he had and had down so after being told off by M.Posey. And Posey had not used a single curse word , nor had he even struck George!

I stammer out a yes. Its ok George. I didnt want to say that at all. I wanted to tell him off and curse him out, then say no!
Then I thought of the restraint Mr. Posey had just exhibited and I thought of how my father would react.
So I with full knowledge of how those old men so dearly loved sitting there together talking of the old days, those times past and remembering fondly their youth,
I decided not to break up the twenty+ years friendship and its regular domino game by refusing to accept the apology.
For had I said no and cursed George and walked off- that would have sealed the deal. Posey would have lived up to his words.
As he later told me that in no uncertain terms!

Now Walker speaks, I loved the old guy. He was nice, smart, funny and clever
He says..
Ok boys. I see this party has ended today and happily certain amends, badly needed amends have been made.
George, every word Posey said to you is true. I agree with him, you treated this young man atrociously and I myself although not here often had seen it more than enough times.
So men , lets just call it a day and show up tomorrow for a FRESH START, SHALL WE?
We all nodded out a yes, and commenced leaving activities. George was standing there like a granite statue.
Posey then asked me to walk with him to his home to get some ice tea.

As we walk he says , young man. Do this tomorrow if you will. Wait until later in the morning to come play. I want to put a little fear into George .
For when we start playing tomorrow morning, I am going to warn him -if that young man does not return to play today , I am going to keep my promise to not ever step foot here again.
I want him to sweat it out a bit after all he has done to you for these past many months.
I agree, and after that next morn , George was a much changed man- Hell, he even made a few praising comments on my playing abilities- something he had never done before!

Note, Uncle Steve comes to play two more times then he dies in his sleep two weeks later at age 89.
We play on for another year, then at age 17 I move away. The game continued between George, Posey and Walker for about another year and then Walker died at age 84/85?.
Shortly after that, I was then living in West Memphis and came down one weekend to find just George and Posey playing. I joined in for a couple hours but it was not the same.
The magic had gone, the conversation was severely limited and I saw not laughter and joy.

I returned a year later, Mr. Posey's wife in her sleep had died about five weeks before and he no longer left his home.
George dies less that a year later after having been in a nursing home for almost a year.
That is life, ever changing , and sometimes truly great things and great people are lost..
\As are much desired holding onto memories....-Tyr

Note-This story is truth in the telling. Written exactly as I remember, with no great embellishments or stretching going on..
I shortened the conversation a small bit so as not to bore the readers.
I also omitted hundreds of references to stories the five old men told me about the previous six/seven decades in their lives.
I did learn more from those old men in a week of my deliberate and disciplined listening than I learned at school in an entire year IMHO!
ALL FIVE MEN KNEW MY FATHER . All had at one time or another told me what a fine and honorable man he was!
Even George told me that, several months after he had been settled down by Mr. Posey! -Tyr

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Removed, posted in its own thread..