Peg's Pocket
Peg’s Pocket is a pool hall with billiards, pool tables and a bar. People cannot look inside the bar from the outside, because of its tinted windows. The only things you can see are neon signs advertising beers, pictures of bikini-clad models and a small “open” sign.
If you are brave enough to step inside, you will discover a place very different from its shady exterior, one filled with people young and old, successful and the still-struggling.
Peg’s has been in business for 30-something years, which is the best estimate that Mickey can give. He has been working at Peg’s “on and off for 14 years.” While he is in his mid-30s, he looks mid-20s because of his boyish good looks and fun personality. As soon as you walk in, he smiles, waves and asks “hey, what can I do you for?”
Due to the aforementioned darkened windows, it was not very bright in there. The fluorescent lights give off a weak, slightly yellow light that keeps with the “seedy bar” mentality of pool halls. While the crowd is younger on “Free Beer Tuesdays and Thursdays,” no one is young enough for the few candy and game machines at Peg’s.
One group of frequent visitors to the pool hall is a group of friends in their 20s, Emily, Daniel and Brandon. They all work non-high paying jobs, so a cheaper place, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, like Peg’s makes a good place to hang out on a weeknight.
Another group consists of Arthur, Gary, Paul, and Frank. They are also all white, older and retired. They don’t limit their pool nights to the free beer nights, but come once o twice a week when they feel they need a “boys’ night out” away from their wives, except for Gary who is divorced, and is also the friendliest of the group towards the ladies.
A couple of other of people that I have met there, I have never seen again. Mickey, whose job is to keep the pool tables neat and bartend, says the regulars are pretty much the only business that Peg’s gets.
“Yeah, that’s not good business, but I kind of like it that way. I get to know the customers better,” said Mickey. I never asked for his last name, because while he knew I was on assignment, I didn’t want our little interviews to sound too formal.
Before walking into the pool hall, I always looked at it suspiciously, thinking to myself “I would not want to go in there.” After this experience, however, it has definitely given me a new way of viewing different people and places. As Forrest Gump infamously said, “you never know what you’re gonna get.” While I used to think this phrase only referred to a box of chocolates and/or life, I know now that it can also be relevant to shady-looking pool halls by the highway.
