47 - 3/29/11 - Marshside Storytime X

Initial Impressions

Christopher Setterlund

47 – 3/29/11

Marshside Storytime X – Two Odd Couples

            It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I share the latest installment of Marsh Storytime.  Today’s story has to do with a pair of odd couples.  They were two sets of old men that made for some of the funniest reality television before there was reality television.  Joe and Joe, and Bill and Jay, their relationships and interactions helped make the old Marsh such a great place to work.

            Jay and Bill were the early morning guys, Bill sat at the counter and jay was part of the famous Table 13 crew of old men.  Jay was always there by 7am to fill all of the bird feeders.  He would come inside and we would chat about baseball, his preference was always the Brewster White Caps of the Cape League.  Jay was very soft spoken he also enjoyed starting the coffee for the waitresses before they came in.  He was a class guy.

            Bill was also a class guy, but his personality was quite a bit different.  He would come in loud and proud like a hurricane.  I think he worked in construction in his younger days because he was still a big guy in his early 70’s.  It always made me laugh to hear him come in through the back door to the kitchen before we opened cussing and swearing about whatever was going on.  I’d be putting bacon in the old pizza over and Bill and Jay would be on the other side of the line talking.  Jay speaking softly, Bill yelling about how the girls didn’t need his help with the coffee, it is making me smile right now thinking about it.

            The other odd couple, Joe and Joe, Mahoney and Capachione.  They would both sit at the end of the counter usually between 9:30 and 10:30 everyday.  I always remembered Joey Cap sitting right in the perfect spot where I could see him through the window of the door.  He would wave and motion for me to come out and say hi even when it was so busy that I barely had time to think.

            Of course I always found time to go out and Joey Cap would greet me with his usual ‘Hey boy!’  It made me smile, but then Joe Mahoney would start in to make the whole scene better.  He would yell at Joey Cap ‘He’s got a name, it’s not boy!’  Joey Cap would ask me ‘You don’t mind if I call you boy, do you boy?’  I always said I didn’t mind.  He’d then ask about my Dad, Jack, how he was doing.  Joe Mahoney would rag on Joey Cap for being Italian which would get me to mention that I was Italian as well.  He would then say ‘Yeah but it’s different with this guy,’ pointing at Joey Cap.

            The best part of the morning reality shows would be the time when Joey Cap would start to get up from the counter saying he had to go check his mail at the post office.  Mahoney would yell at him to sit down, that he really didn’t have anywhere to go.  His classic line was always ‘Sit down, I have to talk to you.’

            As I am writing this I realize just how much I enjoyed those times and those people.  Only now as it actually hurts to think of those who have passed on do I understand.  Each day it was the same thing and looking back I am so glad that I got to be a part of it.  I got more than ten years of knowing these regular morning folks that created the atmosphere of family that the old Marsh had.  I still remember after the old Marsh closed going to Grumpy’s with Meg to visit the old counter crew one last time.  It was a fitting curtain call on a time that most restaurants wish they could produce.

            So tonight I will raise a glass in memory of Jay Gordon.  You were a good man, a gentle man.  And I will raise a glass again in memory of Joey Cap.  You always made me laugh and made rough mornings fun with your personality.  As we Italians would say ‘Riposi in Pace.’  I was blessed to know you both, thank you for the memories.