The Halfway Game

About fifteen years ago I was in a bar with some friends. I ordered a beer and paid for it with a ten-dollar bill. The bartender handed me back my change, a few singles and an odd-looking five. I left the singles on the bar and scrutinized the five.

It was a worn bill, and clearly very old. But it was also a different design from the fives that were in use in the mid-nineties. The image of Lincoln looked smaller, the seal and serial number were red, and some other subtle details looked different. My gaze moved to the series date.

I don't remember the exact date, but from the limited research I just did, I believe this was a series 1928 bill.*

My mind reeled. About as much time has passed since this bill was issued, I thought, as passed between the day Lincoln was shot and the bill was printed.

I don't know if this was exactly true. Series dates on bills don't necessarily indicate the year they were printed. Still, it was close enough for my purposes. I wondered about the history of the bill. Squirrelled away in some old-timer's mattress until he decided he needed to raid his emergency funds to wet his whistle? Stolen out of a grandmother's purse? The last legacy of someone's beloved parent? I had no idea. I pocketed the bill and got back to what I was doing.

In six days I will be as close to being sixty-five as I am to being nineteen. As close to being seventy-six as I am to being eight.

Last week I heard someone on the radio talking about Robert Johnson and his influence on the musicians of the 1960's. The bulk of Robert Johnson's creative output dates from 1936 and 1937. Among these songs is "Cross Road Blues," which the British rock/blues band Cream covered as "Crossroads" in 1968.

Let that sink in. "'Crossroads" came thirty-one years after "Cross Road Blues." As of this writing in January of 2010, it has been about forty-two years since "Crossroads." There is a greater distance between the present day and the premiere of the original Star Wars than there is between Robert Johnson's recording of "Cross Road Blues" and Cream's recording of "Crossroads."

Usually when I play the Halfway Game, people tell me to stop. I think I will for now.


*It might have been a series 1933. I have it around here somewhere, I'm just not sure where.