ROOSTER
That evening Lemon had plans to take Alva, Fish and Chips, and Brenda and Brent out to dinner. The word had gotten out around town about the incident in the titty bar the night before. People were talking about the strange goings-on at the barbershop and how the dancer was going to get AIDS ‘cause the woman who bit her hung out with that Rooster Crowd from the barbershop.
Rooster had become a pariah around town after people had found out about his HIV status. Fish accepted everybody as they were, except for complete idiots or troublemakers, as long as they either got their hair cut or nails done on occasion and maybe smoked a cigar. There was something intelligent and earthy in the way the barbershop looked and was run. This drew people from under many a rock, after the cruel grunts of narrow-minded everyday day life had driven them into seclusion. This was, after all, North Carolina, the home of Jesse Helms.
Rooster’s was such a case. He was a wild-child in his fifties, the same as Fish. He’d been there, done that. He had a skull and crossbones painted on the middle fingernail of his right hand. After he found out that he was HIV positive, he did the honorable thing and told the ones he had been with, many on that same little island where the shop was located. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with him anymore. Even his old barber would no longer cut his hair. Fish knew that with proper hygienic procedures and a few basic precautions and a wee bit of intelligence, there should be no problems. It was that simple.
Anyway, the bite in the ass and the sex over the air waves was giving cause for many of the locals to already begin circulating petitions and phoning in anonymous complaints to the mayor’s office. The mayor was a friend, but there was only so much he could do to keep things mellow and still remain in office. I tagged along that night with Rooster the biker and the huge, cigar-smoking, always smiling Gastro. We had a few beers in a few local watering holes. Gastro reminded everyone that Rooster was a Vietnam vet just like himself. Gastro watched out for Fish and made certain that everyone knew that there were no strange goings-on goin’ on, “Just a little good clean fun, heh, heh, heh.”