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SNOOKY SMITH
From Sullivan's Short Stories
by George T Philibin
Old Snooky Smith--his real name George Smith but everybody called him Snooky-- was liked by all around town. And Snooky liked almost everybody at the steel-mill where he worked as a bricklayer lining coke batteries for the last thirty-years, or in the town where he lived that was home to the many steelworkers and coal miners of the area. His name echoed from the west end of town to the east end, for just about everyone knew old Snooky. Whether it was hunting, laying brick, or having a drink at his favorite bar, when Snooky came around all knew him, and they had good words to speak upon his appearance.
Old Snooky could hold his liquor, and he never missed a day's work at the mill. But on weekends he worked for himself building cement walls, brick chimneys and stone fireplaces to make extra money. Old Snooky was a good bricklayer and his services often called upon by his many friends and their acquaintances. Snooky was in demand; his price very reasonable and his work excellent!
In a small town everybody knows about everybody else, or knows someone who knows about everybody else. The good names ring in speech and the bad names become grunts, often bellowed out after a few beers that aid in giving detailed description to the bad names. All along the bar as the steelworker took a shot and a beer, the good names sounded out as bells do at Christmas time and the bad name, well let's just say their names didn't ring!
When Snooky moonlighted----that's what the old timers called it when you had a second job or did worked for yourself on the side--- his helper was Sam Winton, also Snooky's good drinking buddy. Snooky and Sam worked well together, Snookey laid the block and Sam mixed up the cement, or mud as they called it. They had so much work that they had to turn down about half their job offers.
Snooky got a call one day from a man who needed a chimney built. The man, John Belle, lived about two miles out of town. Belle worked in the coal mines, and he was well known around town because her never paid his bills, and he'll screw anybody over a buck. His whole family had a bad reputation. Everybody in the west end of town knew the belles well, from the small stores, gas stations and even the Church were Belle always promised money, but never came through.
One day after a long, hot dirty shift in the mills, a few steelworkers were having a drink at the Cove, a neighborhood bar and the one Snooky frequented. The conversation centered around Belle because it was rumored that Snooky and Sam were going to build a chimney for him!
"That moocher should be taught a lesson! Hell, he owes me ten bucks from five years ago, owes old Red twenty, yet. Hey Roy! Did he every pay you the rest for that old Dodge truck?" Robby asked.
"Forty-bucks yet! I'll never see it. Hell, he don't even have that truck anymore. Last I heard he sold it to Slim, and Slim gave it to his son," Roy said.
"He still owes Kelly ten for those tires... paid him some, but not all," Al, a retired steelworker, interjected between sips of his draft beer.
"Every time he come in, he want one on the house. I tell him no, but next time he come in he ask for the same thing! Back in old country he would be run out of town. He a dead-beat---no good be dead-beat--word get around!" Jimmy the Greek said, the owner of the Cove who was also tending bar. "He get no free drink here!"
"Good for you, Jimmy," Robby said. "Why in God's name is Snooky going to built that chimney for him? Why?"
Silence settled over the bar as all thought about why Snooky would take on a job for Belle. Belle the Weasel! Belle the moocher! Belle the dead-beat! Why?
"Snooky too good. Yes, in old country I knew man just like Snooky. He help everybody. Sometime get paid, sometime no pay, but he was good fellow. Many took advantage of him---they do that to good fellow. Too bad. But Snooky nobody's fool. No, Snooky nobody's fool," Jimmy added.
"You're right, Johnny. Snooky is nobody's fool, neither is Sam," Al added.
As thoughts continued on as to why Snooky and Sam would built a chimney for Belle, Snooky and Sam entered the bar. Upon their arrival, many, "Give them drinks on me" echoed in the bar and many "How ya doing Snooky" also sounded cheerfully.
Jimmy came over to Snooky and Sam and said, "Drink is on me. Brother came over from Greece last week and said that fireplace you built for my son is first rate. He like it so much that he wish you could go back with him and built him wine-cellar. But I say Snooky no go... he have job in steel-mill."
Snooky and Sam smiled as they each emptied a shot glass of whisky, then chased it down with a gulp of beer. " I like you, Jimmy, always have. You have a nice family. Your son is a good fella and you should be proud of him," Snooky said.
"Thank you. I teach son to respect his elders, take care of family and work hard. He good boy," Jimmy said.
The conversation in the bar turned to the world series that was coming up, and many different opinions surfaced as to who would win. The Dodger favored by Snooky and Sam, but the Yankees by many.
As the conversation heated up about the World Series, Jimmy walked down the bar to Snooky, lowered his head and said, "You and Sam going to build chimney for that dead-beat. No good, Snooky. You know he no pay--why you build chimney for him?"
After taking a sip of beer, Snooky said with a sparkle in his eye, "He'll pay. He'll pay us now, or..." At this point Snooky and Sam chuckled to each other as their eyes locked themselves together, merrily. Jimmy stood still until Snooky finished. "he'll pay us later. One or the other, believe me he'll pay us!"
"That good. You nobody's fool, Snooky, I know this," Jimmy said.
The cool air conditioned bar took the steelworkers' minds off the hot, dirty steel-mill or dust filled coal mines, for many coal miners also stopped in. For a half hour or so the bar rang with laughter and stories, but some would just sit quietly enjoying the brief interlude between work and home. The leather bar stools were very comfortable, and the steelworkers could lean their elbows on the bar. Pistachios, salted, were free, and the bar had many open containers of them sitting in front of its patrons. And the television set turned on was loud enough to hear, yet soft enough so as not to interfere with the conversation taking place. Lay-offs, talk of strikes, accidents, and deaths, usually in mining, fill the bar sometimes, but most just wanted a quiet beer and some friendly voices to help end the day before they headed home.
After about forty-five minutes to an hour, the bar would empty until the next change of shift.
It was a hot summer that year, and Snooky and Sam had many jobs lined up. Belle kept asking Snooky when he would start, and Snooky always answered, "Sometime in late August or early September. Don't worry, we'll have it up long before snow falls. I got to work some extra shifts because of vacations, but don't worry we'll get her up."
Finally, one Saturday, Snooky and Sam visited Belle. The old chimney had been raised, a good hole dug for the new foundation, and all the fieldstone needed piled nearby, and the cement needed stored in Belle's garage.
"Snooky, I knew you wouldn't let me down, and you know me, I'll treat ya good," Belle said. Snooky and Sam shot a gleeful glance at each other, then Sam said, "Oh, we all know each other. Hell, most of us work together--my cousin works with you in the mines."
"Oh, yeah! We're good buddies, you know that!" Belle answered.
Sam had to look away after Belle said that, for Randy, Sam's cousin, hated the lazy good for nothing Belle, but Randy had to work with him so he put up with Belle's big mouth and cheap ways just to get the work day in. They never socialized after work.
By late September, the chimney was up, and Belle kept saying over and over again, see me in two weeks, I'll have the money then.
Belle could have said four week, eight weeks or even a year, for Snooky and Sam knew that Belle wasn't going to pay them, not on his own, anyway.
September turned into later October and the first cold spell washed over Johnstown. That Saturday Snooky and Sam were having a drink at the Cove when Belle came storming in! "What the hell did you guys do! When I got the coal lit, smoke filled the basement so thick I couldn't see!! You guys had better fix it or I'm going to the Justice of the Peace!"
"Go ahead," Sam said. "You owe his brother some money for that shot-gun ya got off him! Go ahead! I'm sure he'll be real sympathetic to your ears!"
Laughter roar through the bar as Belle stood glaring at Snooky and Sam.
Snooky then said, "Why, maybe the chimney knows you didn't pay us. They know things like that, yes they do somehow, isn't that right Sam?"
"Oh, yes they do. Why, remember that wall we built. Well it sprouted legs and started walking away when it found out that me and Snooky didn't get paid, and...."
"You'll have you money in a half-hour!" Belle blasted out as he stormed out of the bar and into snow flurries, as choruses of laughter from the bar followed him.
"Snooky, what you do to the chimney?" Jimmy asked.
Snooky and Sam looked at each other, smiled with sparkling eyes, then Sam said, "You'll have to wait until he pays us!"
"Whatever you guys did, he deserves it!" echoed off the walls mixed with more laughter.
Belle stormed in with the money and threw it down on the bar in front of Snooky and Sam.
Snooky looked at the money and said, "You owe Red twenty, Kelly forty, Bobby ten...and old Joe fifty. You pay them first, then you pay me and Sam."
"Why, you old..." Belle started to say and stepped toward Snooky which was one of the biggest mistakes Belle could have made.
Three large young steelworker sprang from their stools, two coal miners stepped between Snooky and Belle, and Jimmy came around from behind the bar bolding a baseball-bat and said, "You think you tough guy! You no pay up! You dead-beat! You know that?"
Belle withdrew his advance.
Snooky still smiling, said, "Do we have a deal?"
Belle threw ten at bobby, twenty at Red, gave another guy five who said, "Dam, I forgot all about the five you owed me!" some laughter bubble up at that one, then Belle flew out of the bar while Sam hollowed, "Don't forget Millie over at the store!"
Within another half hour, Joe from the gas station called and said that Belle said to call and tell Snooky that he paid me. The same with Millie, and some other local establishment not far. Snooky and Sam just kept quite as everyone begged to know what they did to the chimney. But Snooky would only say, "After he gets everybody paid!"
The bar rang with anticipation, and cheers went up for Snooky and Sam, and nobody would leave until they heard what Snooky and Sam had done to the chimney.
Again Belle stormed into the bar and threw the money down that he owed Snooky and Sam.
Sam counted the money and said that it was all there, then Snooky said to Belle, "Go get that forty foot ladder. Then call me here, and I'll tell you how to make the chimney work.
Again, Belle glared at Snooky but he had enough sense to leave the bar and get the ladder.
Snooky and Sam each had another shot and a beer, as they were cheered by everyone in the bar.
Again, Jimmy asked what they did to the chimney and all ears in the bar were tuned to hear the answer, and the bar became silent as a movie theater does when the lights dim.
Snooky wiped off his mouth with his shirt sleeve after a long drink of beer, looked at Jimmy and said, "We knew he wouldn't pay, so we cemented a pane of glass across the opening about half way up the chimney . If you look down the chimney you can't see it, and if you look up, you'll see light coming down! You'll think the chimney is open, but its not
"When he calls, I'll tell him to climb up the ladder and drop a brick down the chimney. That'll break the glass and the chimney will work just fine!!"
A roar of laughter sounded outside coming from the bar after Snooky finished. And the laughter didn't die down soon, either.
Old Snooky and Sam-- liked by all before-- now became the good old boys from the west end, for their story spread around the mill and other neighborhoods. Wherever Snooky and Sam went now, someone would pat them on the back, offer to buy them a drink or give them a discount. And their names became legends, their story spoken often, and the story repeated by those who heard it!
Old Snooky and Sam continued to build chimneys and brick walls, and they were always paid on time!!
**End**
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