Cedar Key. First night both thought they heard their dogs barking. Hadn’t brought the dogs. Went to bed – some actual canines partied later -before TJ closed the Black Dog next door. No problem, we’ll just look at the stars. Sky crystal and twinkling. Moonglow on waves.
The Black Dog was Barker’s second favorite bar in the world without naked girls. He thought it was his second favorite bar that didn’t have naked girls because he always liked to think there was a better place than where he was now. Just his nature, a lifelong struggle. Ignoring that. The Black Dog is the bar he’d always wanted to own himself. [Author’s note: But only with naked girls. And now, and now, and now, he didn’t need nor want the naked girls. But back in the day and this is true about most of us, let’s be honest, to a single young man with the testosterone level of Sasquatch, owning a bar with a covey of unclothed females seemed like a good idea at the time. End of note.]
We come in here to get out of the sun, although there’s a sunny deck out back. Think of The Black Dog as a pet-friendly party where you can smoke with a great beer selection, cigar selection as good. Your host is TJ. Man merits respect.
Barker had consulted Tripadvisor. The Black Dog is #1 among Nightlife. Pretty impressive, you’d think. There is no number two. Told you things were slow on Cedar Key. Anyway, there’s like 351 reviews of The Black Dog. Stuff like “second best bar in the world without naked girls,” And “TJ is awesome and this place is the shits, you feel me?”
A huge beverage cooler and you grab your own. Barker grabbed an Asylum by Left Coast Brewing. Just your style, TJ notes as he pops the top. Smells like bacon, says the young redhead. Takes a taste. Too sweet. Honey, it’s twelve-plus percent alcohol. I could get used to twenty-four proof beer. That shit is life-affirming. Remember driving across state lines just to get my hands on some three-point-two.
Cassie’s Sierra Nevada Otra Vez, well, let’s just say, as she did, tastes like citrusy crap.
[Author’s note. Barker finally finished Moby Dick. Not quite as torturous as The Autobiography of Mark Twain, but close. So, you see before you verily the penultimate author’s note. End of note.]
Depending on the time of day and depending on whether TJ would rather be fishing, the Black Dog can be conversationally quiet or frenetically festive. Always a great soundtrack. When we mentioned Disturbed covering Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound Of Silence, https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=5986 TJ suggested a cover he found particularly salubrious.
There’s a friendly, stout pit bull moseying around. Managed to snuggle with Max a couple of times. That’s the dog, Max is his name. Pit bulls are cool.
The Black Dog is The Home of Indoor Corn Hole. AND there’s a chess set. Cushiony chairs and many television sets broadcasting your favorite teams wherever the hell you’re from. There’s a guy on the back deck drinking a beer, smoking a cigar with a line in the water. Hard to beat.
What is the price of this bodacious beverage, Barker asked. Six-fifty came back the reply. So, he had another. [Author’s note. The Black Dog is a CASH-ONLY enterprise. End of note.]
Later he found a naked girl in his room. She called him, Big Fella, and said, yes, there was something he could do for her, she was hot with a hunger that needed to be scratched..
So she turned down the air-conditioning and sent him out for fried oysters.