2008
“Hey, Bob, blackjack?”
Colonel John Brown, aka Big Brown – he was 6-feet-5 and close to 300 pounds – laughed in that deep, unmistakable rumble of his. “Come on, let’s hit the tables awhile.”
“Did you say something?” said Bob, removing his earphones. “I had the music turned up.”
“Who you listening to?”
“Anak Nakal.”
“Oh,yeah. That pyro punk, right? Or maybe he’s a music visionaire,” John chuckled.
“Visionary,” said Bob. “The word is visionary.”
“Sure,” said John. “So, do you wanna play some blackjack or what? I’m feelin’ hot. I need to recapture the glory.”
And that was John Brown in a nutshell. Always on the hunt, looking for that next adventure and a little glory, living large, always laughing. He was never in the military, but picked up the nickname “Colonel” for reasons unknown while working in the Gayego Coal Mine out in Utah (“Let me tell ya, I was a pretty cool coal man, but I couldn’t do that forever”). And so it was off to the next new thing: First to Ireland, where he hooked up with a local who provided all the valuable insights and guidance needed to fully appreciate the Irish libations. He’d always talk about Denis. Couldn’t remember his last name so he just called him Denis of Cork.
Though he loved Ireland, he couldn’t settle down. There was too much of the world to see and too much to do. He loved to travel and take on new experiences. Hell, he even spent a year living with the Monba in a remote area of Tibet.
John had known Bob Adriano since meeting him at an over-30 basketball league. Bob could play the game a little bit and could “get up” as they say. He’d even played a little in college before having a falling out with his coach, the hard-nosed “Cowboy” Cal Watson. His teammates called him“Smooth Air.” On the other hand, all John had going for him was his size. He couldn’t jump and he had lousy court vision, but he was big.
So here they were in Canada, John talking Bob into joining him for the trip north to strike it rich. John knew all about the tale of Ekati, where tundra ended up yielding a fortune in diamonds. “Let’s go. Maybe we can get a piece of the action. Who knows what else might be up there. Besides, we’ll have a blast.”
So they packed up John’s big truck and away they went. They were staying at the Zeuss gambling resort outside of Toronto, better known as the “Z.” And John, as always, was itching to do something….either hit the casino (“Z” Fortune) or the comedy club
(Z Humor). And of course there was always the “Eight Belles”, the Z’s famous female dancing troupe.
“Come on, Bob. You can lay around when you’re dead. There’s too much to do. Let’s go.”
Bob turned off the music and grabbed his door card. “You’re right, Colonel. Let’s hit it.”
John laughed. It was going to be a good night.
