The Battle Cruiser Rides Again

George drives a string of old, beat up cars. His favored taxi service vehicle is his 1981 dodge diplomat as that seems to be the most reliable of the bunch. For some reason, today he was in his mid-seventies Ford Thunderbird. I call the Thunderbird the battle cruiser as it is a huge old gas guzzling hulk of a car; a relic from times when gas was less than a dollar a gallon.

George had the hood up and was leaning over the engine looking into the engine bay. He seemed to be tinkering with something. I walked over to see what was up. George shook my hand as I approached after wiping them on his pants.

“Whazzup, my brotha!” George exclaimed.

“Need any help?” I asked.

“Nah, it just be the damn starter motor,” He replied. “I think I be going to have to buy a new solenoid for it.”

George rapped on the starter motor with a hammer a few times and walked around to start the car. The battle cruiser cranked and roared to life belching black smoke from the exhaust pipe. He then turned the car off and got back out.

“Buy dis brotha a beer,” George said as he patted me on the shoulder.

I walked into the grocery store and purchased two Milwaukee’s Best Ice; George’s favorite form of ingesting alcohol. I walked back out and handed him one. We both got into the car to drink our beers.

“What’s been going on?” I asked.

“You be missing all the excitement today,” George said with a grin.

George somehow always knows everything that goes on down at the Pig.

“What happened?” I asked.

“They (the police) busted that damn beggar nigga,” George replied.

I knew exactly who George was speaking of. It seems HIV/AIDS Guys aberrant behavior had finally caught up with him. Someone must have complained about his overly aggressive panhandling yesterday.

“What did they bust him for?” I asked.

“Dey searched him and found his pipe,” George said, “Got him for possession of drug paraphernalia.”

I know this must sound mean, but his being in jail will make for a much more pleasant experience visiting the Pig for the next few days. HIV/AIDS Guy is so aggressive that he is aggravating as hell. The sad truth though is that this short stint in jail will do nothing to deter HIV/AIDS Guy from that pipe. This so called “War on Drugs” is so ridiculous and a monumental waste of tax payers money. If you don’t believe me then take a closer look at the spectacle that was prohibition in the early part of last century.