Dad would store away the result of the check for use later that day or evening just in case he felt like dropping into The Club. If the light was on, then odds were solid that one or more members was in The Club, enjoying a couple of cold ones and a game of pinochle or poker.
(Social Media Sign of the Apocalypse: Just noticed that The K in Altoona has a blog on Blogger.com.)
I am pretty sure that this compulsion to “check if the light was on in The K” was wired into my Dad’s DNA. He couldn’t not check, like some sort of Pavlovian reflex. Almost without fail, after performing the check, Dad would comment to whoever was riding with him about it. “Looks like the light is on in The K, Joey”. It got to the point where I developed my own compulsion to check to see if Dad was checking.
They say that temptations are best combated by avoiding the occasions that give rise to them, but this is usually easier said than done. The route from many other parts of Altoona back to Fairview would take one across the tracks over the 17th Street Bridge and then onto 12th Avenue after a right turn at the bottom of the bridge.
