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I often spent my free time hanging out after school in the poolhall in our small town. Even though it had quite a few business names through the years, it had always been known as the poolhall. Once it had also been a bar but when I was a teen they no longer served alcohol on the first floor. There were a couple of card tables and some pool tables, as well. The number of pool tables was four and they were located in the main area of the room. On the second floor you could get a meal and order alcohol. The pool hall also had two juke boxes which we often used.

Then juke boxes cost fifty cents for 5 songs and my friends and I regularly spent long hours listening to the music while watching the people playing pool. This was my favorite time of the day. After an athletic event all the children would come to the pool hall to play some pool while listening to music. There were also many parents who liked the place. They often went to the upstairs area to have a drink. Even though the second floor was supposed to be less noisy than the first, my friends and I often joked that it was a lot noisier when the parents were there. Parents and children knew where each other were and thus the pool hall had many happy customers. It was the ideal place for a small town like ours. If wondering about the latest news in town, all you had to do to learn it all was to sit in the pool hall.

However, the police was a bit concerned that in the pool hall where there were many children alcohol was served. Even though, alcohol was not offered on the first floor, the police insisted on having some new regulations. Thus, people gradually stopped coming to the pool hall so often and soon the owners got into financial difficulty and finally they had to close the pool hall down. They had an auction to raise some money. The juke boxes were also listed for sale. My friends and I thought it would be a great idea to buy them and place them in a garage and listen to the music. Surprisingly, on the day of the auction the bidding for the jukeboxes went really high, so none of us could afford them.

Soon after the auction we found out that the principle bought one of the juke boxes so that dances at the school are made. This was quite an interesting way to go without a deejay. However, it was great as you can choose what songs you like for free during the dances.