HOTELS WERE WHERE FRIENDS WERE 1950S

HOTELS WERE WHERE FRIENDS WERE 1950S, a photo by roberthuffstutter on Flickr.

OLD MEN IN HOTEL LOBBIES
By Robert L. Huffstutter

When the times got bad
I headed out of town
on Greyhound to some faraway
place on either coast, somewhere
near the sea, a beachtown
where there were small bars,
liquor stores, a main street
with side streets where old hotels
had vacancy signs blinking, hotels
where old divans and easy chairs were
occupied by veterans from three wars,
The Great War, World War Two and
the Korean War.

Those old vets
always had kind words and shook hands
when someone new walked in
to inquire about the rooms.

They looked up
leaving the headlines for a moment
to size up the new stranger in town. They would save their questions
until the guest checked in. How many suitcases
the stranger had made a difference in their
mental state and future questions.

New people in town
were news enough for these men who
had seen action on foreign battlegrounds.
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HOTELS WERE WHERE FRIENDS... by roberthuffstutter