Whacha think?

Chapter 1
"How Many Times Can You Begin Again?”

      He had found himself starting over more times than any man should have to in any one lifetime.
      As a child he wanted to be an actor for most of the time he could remember. Then, for a short while it changed to a lawyer. After a few months of that he realized he wanted to be Perry Mason, and therefore acting like a lawyer might be enough.
      Then, in High School Truman Delano Jackson found his fatal flaw as an actor. He had little or no charisma.
      But, he also found a new calling. Not a first choice, but a good one.
      He lettered varsity in his freshman year in Football. He was strong, quick and with amazing endurance. He played Center on Offense and Monster Man on Defense (a type of defense, by the way, that has fallen out of favor and is rarely used even on the High School level). He was on the field for the entirety of the game.
      He was feared by opposing teams.
      With or without charisma, he was remembered for what he could do.
      By his first year of college they were scouting him.
      Since he went to a small Midwest college, he wasn’t drafted right away. So, he went to the German team on NFL Europe. Eight weeks there and he won a spot on his beloved Kansas City Chiefs. They weren’t the powerhouse they had been when he was a child, but they were the team he loved.
      Then, two years into this career came the injury.
      The press always blamed the end of his football career to the injury.
      The truth was that the torn ligament and rotator cuff were easily overcome. But the staff infection he got in the hospital, and the pneumonia and lung damage that resulted where what ended his life as a pro football player.
      The legal suit gave him enough money to open “TD’s Goal Line Stand” Bar & Restaurant.
      He was starting over again. He learned bartending, book keeping, everything and was he had to know to make the place a go.
      It was a popular joint. With his sports friends, the entertainment friends and media friends he had made along the way, there was always a lot of talk about the place.
      The fact that his wife, one of the best cooks the world had ever known, put together the recipes for the menu didn’t hurt either.
      There was only one problem.
      The neighborhood.
      He didn’t know enough about the Southwest Blvd. area before he fell in love with the neighborhood.
      Heavily Hispanic (he wasn’t but he loved the culture) and open, this was a great place to be.
      Except for the flooding.
      3 out of 5 years his place was wiped out in flooding. Even with insurance, after the third time he knew he had to move.
      Now came word that the biggest mall in this part of the country was going to open.
      It would be something to compete with the Mall of America in scope.
      He didn’t know about how he liked putting the bar in a Mall, but the publicity couldn’t hurt. When you move your business, publicity has to be there to bring your cliental along with you, and maybe, bring in some new ones.
      Now the new place was open, and after the Herculean efforts the move demanded, it looked like Jackson might have found a home.
      If only the gates of Hell hadn’t been right under the Popcorn Shoppe.

(c) Copyright 2004 C. Wayne Owens