Right or Left at Oak Street

The hot southern Texas sun burned his eyes as he looked out the swinging doors of the Lucky Red Garter Saloon. In just a short while it would be noon and Black Bart would meet him in the street. The warm beer he had just drank was sour in his stomach....

"Roger, Roger! Where are you worthless?" Irma, Roger Goodwin's wife, yelled.

"I'm coming dear," Roger replied with a sigh.

Roger Goodwin worked at the Suds and Duds. He'd worked there for 10 years. When he first started working there it was a part-time job. And now he works from open to close mostly to get away from Irma. You see, as far as Irma is concerned, Roger can do nothing right.

It's been that way in the 12 years they've been married. Roger never lived up to Irma's expectations. She always wanted him to be something he couldn't be, someone he couldn't be. The problem was that Roger never was sure of who or what Irma wanted him to be - just that he wasn't.

Appearances were everything to Irma, and it just didn't do to have a husband who was a bartender and change maker at the Suds and Duds. Perhaps, if Roger had owned the Suds and Duds it would have been different. But he just worked there, opening up every morning at seven and closing every night at ten six days a week.

When Roger was home he could often be heard playing Roy Clarke's Right or Left at Oak Street on his record player. Irma hated the song, but Roger loved the idea of there being a right or left to go.

One morning, Roger got up and went to work. He opened up the Suds and Duds, made change for a couple of ladies who came in early to do their laundry. Then, he sat behind the bar, wondering, "What would happen if, when I get to Main Street, I turn left instead of right? Where would I wind up?"

Roger had never been out of Calhoun County. In fact Roger had never had an occasion to look at a map. So he had no idea where turning left on Main Street would take him. The one thing he did know was that it would be away from Irma and that couldn't be all bad could it?

All day long, Roger sat behind the bar, handing out beers, chips, sandwiches, and change. All the while, his mind on that left turn on Main. At 10 o'clock, Roger closed the Suds and Duds, made sure the chairs were all neat, and everything was done behind the bar. Then he got in his car and started home. When he got to Main Street, he paused for just a minute.

Every now and then someone at the Suds and Duds will ask about Roger and wonder just what happened to him.

If you go past Roger’s house, you’ll often hear the sound of the record player playing ‘Right or Left at Oak Street’.