Fall in May

~49~ The Annex

"I swear to the Sea, I ain't gonna make the same mistakes. Because I have learned to be better from those past mistakes. So I am going to make some even better brand new mistakes!" ~Sydney "The Squid" Hauser

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When I get back to the Old Folks Home, Aces merely nods at the news of my big promotion to the Annex. I have a pretty good feeling that his good buddy Buzzy has already called Aces already. Probably to let him know that their gambling debt was paid in full. Also what a totally blazing disappointment I am to "getting along". Because I know for a fact that Buzzy just sacrificed me for his almighty paycheck. Then probably lied to Aces about the whole thing with Tommy in the Toilet.

If I cared at all, I might even waste my breath justifying my correct actions to Aces. But I don't bother...at all. After all, why should Aces take my side over that of his good war buddy Buzzard's? Who am I to him in the grand scheme of things San Fall? Just some poor orphan that got dropped off on his doorstep for the summer. A leftover brat from his dead sons' dalliance with a first marriage. 

So without saying a word, Aces rolls out the ol' Impala two miles over the next rolling hill to the Annex, for my next big job interview. The silent ride over to the old National Guard park is a nice change from our first time going to the pool this summer. Long gone are all the unnecessary questions regarding my qualifications. Because it's pretty clear to everyone now that I was way underqualified at "getting along" with blazing Buzzy and the Plunger boys. Who knows maybe I can make an even better bad impression at this next spot, as well? 

"Well, there ya go, The Old Annex." He pulls up right in front of the large grey granite block mausoleum looking building. 

From the outside, the place looks like the Postwar Russian bathhouse. It has that kind of old-world charm that only needs a cast-iron monument to Stalin in a trench coat, glaring angrily outwards towards the future to complete the oppressive ambiance.

Where the Plunge is an Olympic pool water park complex par none. Complete with a wading pool, kiddy pool, and a professional dive tower. The Annex pool is a different kind of strange spot altogether. The Annex sits squarely on the grounds of what was formerly the National Guard depot and parade grounds. As I will, unfortunately, come to learn, the old-style indoor Olympic pool was built back in the nineteen-thirties when FDR was getting America back to work after the Great Depressing. Then subsequently turned over to the county after the last Big War victory to serve as a park, slash community center, slash whatever.   

"So good luck in there. I'll just wait here and listen to the game, if it's all the same." Aces waves me away. Thankfully this time he opts to stay put in the car, instead of escorting me around like the promising young orphan I am obviously not.

"No worries." I shrug off the wishful thinking, not bothering to explain that I don't need his luck. That I have all the hate I need now. And that hate works so much better for me than luck ever did. 

So I leave Aces in the Impala listening to the game on the radio, while I wander through the old green glass doors and into the Annex pool proper. One step thru the front door of this place and I can already feel the old world charm fading away as the chlorine miasma hits me. With only one old-style Olympic pool, and a standard high & low dive board combo are all this place has to offer. I walk around water on the ancient slip and slide break neck tiles. Seems that someone has thoughtfully put down grip tape strips, all evenly spaced down the walkway in search of Ol Joe Black.

The door to the small cubbyhole office is one of those old-world top and bottom split door things, that allows the residents to keep children and midgets at bay. I knock on the waist-high ledge and the old dark dude in speedos sitting behind the desk stares at me over the half an open door with his watery eyes.