My girlfriend and I wanted to try somewhere new and stopped by one of the last legendary surviving brown water holes in town. We were sitting in a kind of booth that was screwed to the wall in such a way that I felt like I was sitting on display. The light in the room was surprisingly bright. Had it been more subdued, one would not have seen how worn the room, the furniture and the guests were. A big guy sat a couple of tables away from us and read the newspaper. A slightly animated guy at the next table kept trying to have a loud dialogue with him, but the guy with the paper showed no interest and answered only with one-syllable words.
– Didn’t you live down there back then! On the riviera! In Saint-Tropez!
– I have lived many places – also in Saint-Tropez, replied the big guy.
There was something about his dialect. The words he used didn´t match the tone.
– Weren’t you a fighter pilot back then too!
The big guy folded his newspaper and got up to leave. It is now or never I thought.
– Pardon; I could not help but notice your dialect. Are you from the Northwest? He looked at me, and mumbled out a ..yea… You have been a fighter pilot and lived in Saint-Tropez?
I asked his name, and he looked at me as if he were trying to put together a puzzle where most of the pieces were missing.
– Do I know you?
– We are related, I said after a short break.
His face lit up. Not because he recognized me. We had never met before. Possibly because he was the kind of guy he was. A guy who was genuinely happy and curious to meet new people.
He sat down at our table and I treated him with a beer or three. He had lived an incredible life in many ways and stumbled into one wonderful situation after another. First when he was joining the military at the age of seventeen. With no education of any kind, he was selected and sent to TOPGUN education in Nevada where he graduated top of his class. After years of flying both fighter planes and helicopters he stumbled on and ended up as an undisputed restaurant king. And from there to Saint-Tropez where he became engaged to the lovely Marie. A love he carried with him throughout his life. He stayed in the finest hotels and became friends with Jack Nicholson, Roger Moore – and rumour has it he had a fling with Birgitte Bardot. When confronted with the rumour he always laughed and said she was too old for him. He went bankrupt, but life stumbled on and he took over the company he was employed in after the owner had an urgent need for cash. His new trade took place mostly abroad – and since he felt unfairly treated after the bankruptcy, he promised himself that he would never pay taxes to his home country again. And he kept that promise.
In the spring of 2015, he stumbled for the last time and fell out of time. But all the stories, tales and myths of this colourful, generous big guy will live on.
Billy Bronco is telling you 