I knew this was going\nto happen. I shouldn’t have let Archie talk me into this whole thing. But it\nwas a done deal as soon as I got into his flivver. He and his gal Grace thought\nthey could show me a grand old time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Best time you’ll\nhave this side of the Rouge,” he said. I wasn’t convinced, but I had\nnothing better to do after getting off from the factory, and it’d been a bit\nsince I had a real drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Archie drove us up to the place, which was in\nthe back of a hat shop. It was after hours, but the door to the front of the\nstore was unlocked. The three of us walked to the back where there was a little\ndoor hidden behind some display racks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is how we\nget into the joint,” Archie said. “Joe down at the foundry said you\nknock five times. Guy asks who wants some tea, and you say Warren G.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it went just like\nthat. Five knocks and a harsh voice and Archie giving the code. A bruiser of a\nguy opened the door and led us down to the basement, where there was a jazz\nband and about forty guys and gals drinking and having a grand old time. Even\nthe piano man was knocking them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Hooch came in\nover the river from Windsor,” Archie says. “The Purple outfit has\nbeen running some high quality stuff from the Canadians. No turpentine or any\nof that crap, won’t turn you blue or put you six feet under.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“How\nreassuring,” I said, taking a seat next to Grace. She was a looker\nalright, but I didn’t let my eyes linger lest I piss off Archie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three of us were\nin there for about an hour and thirty minutes before it all went to hell. The\nbarman hit a switch that flipped all the shelving behind him back into the\nwall, a horrible crunching sound overcoming the playing band. It was all for\nnaught. The fuzz busted in real quick. All of us were pretty loaded, and the\nonly way into the basement was through the stairway, which was where all the\nheat was. Apparently there was a passageway off to the side, as most of the\npeople in the know snuck out that way, including Archie and Grace. That left me\nand a few straggler members of the jazz band. A big burly cop decked me in the\ngut and sent me reeling. When I got up back on my feet, he and his goon partner\nhad me cuffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I didn’t do\nanything, officer,” I managed. “I just came down here to check the\njoint out.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Well, I assume\nyou know that speakeasies are illegal, and that drinking in one is as\nwell.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I guess, I just don’t see the harm,” I managed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cop chuckled. “The harm is that you happened to be at this particular establishment, which many of our fellow officers hold in disrepute.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This establishment?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other cop started chuckling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What the\nsergeant is trying to say is that we are much more amenably inclined towards\nMorty’s off of Woodward.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I put two and two\ntogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What’s the word?”\nThe cop who decked me undid my cuffs. “They ask who pays the piper, and\nyou say Al.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Simple as\nthat?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Yeah.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cops proceeded to\nbash in the place with their billy clubs, but they let all of us out. Helluva\nworld we live in these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Hughes is an author living in Los Angeles. His novels include Pumpkin Farmer, The Crimson Shamrock, Inland Intrigue, and Loafing by La Brea.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"