The Pub in the Double Wides

Two double-wides jerry-rigged together,

the Bull and Bush became part of

Orange County that would be forever England

until a developer coveted the space.

A Google search shows only fancier places

fanning out across the Southland.

Years later my memories as blurred

as the division between Costa Mesa,

Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, with

similar houses, businesses, so unlike home;

I did not know where one ended

and the next community began.

Fragments of visiting the pub emerge.

Searching in vain for a beer garden

we found this outpost of the Empire.

Expatriates clustering at the bar,

Canucks mingling with the Brits,

A stray Aussie or two, occasionally an Irishman.

Not being regulars, we occupied several tables

between the dartboards and the chintzy piano

whose desperate player wearing oversized Carnaby Street

clothing on his small frame repeated

the same mistakes in the same songs

all night long in confused consistency.

We found our niche there, avoiding garish discos,

upscale places full of leisure suits, white shoes and belts,

the whole trendy Fashion Island scene

or beach bars attracting hordes of hip people

and the cowboy bars that didn’t like our kind..

Shooting darts, drinking pints of John Courage pulled

by the raven-haired barmaid whose name I never knew

life was enjoyable, the world ours to savor.

In those two double wides jerry-rigged together

we found relaxation and community there

that eluded us elsewhere in Orange County.

© Arthur Turfa, 2014