wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 2:
runnin away

whenever i run way from home n went to californy, i wuz a'doin sumthin i'd dun overn over agin befor i finely made it, witch is runnin away. i kin barly member the furst time i tried it since i wuz only two yars old when i dun it. twuz a fambly legend by time i hurd id dun it n everbidy seem lack they admird it so the wunder wuz why thay gut so upset when i cuntinued to try it.

the way they tell it, i stole a naybors trike n made it to paved rode n got spotted purty quick by folks a drivin by n one of em wuz the county n thay pickt me up n tuck me back home whar mama made a fuss n cried n thankt the county fer bein so good at findin me. my dad give a bushl of taters to eddie byrge, witch wuz the name of the county sherrf who pickt me up. folks callt me tater fer a long wile after that n my bruthers n sisters'd pick on me actin lack i warnt wurth much moren a bushl of taters, n fack is, mos of us aint even wurth that much, so i tuck it lack twuz a complimint.

the habit of runnin away dint stop, tho, n tuck me yars to get a reeson why. everday id leev out n find sumplace in the holler to hide or sum other kids to play danl boon or whutever we dun to have fun back then. we had hidin places n such, but thay warnt no way to hide frum my daddy who cud track anythang, so no matter whar id dun gone to hide, purty soon (genrly before dark), here he cum, belt dubled back n reddy to use on me. i will say this in his defents, witch is no matter how mad i made him, he never once hit me with the buckl n only twicet with his fist, n both times, i wuz more or less a'beggin fer it.

he tole me he wuz a gone stop me frum a'runnin away, n i guess my backside gut so tender than i finely give it up, altho that might not be it neether since i gut to reedin books roun then n seemt lack that tuck care of the urge to get away to sumthin. he wuz proud of me, or at leest of gettin me tamed, n i remember to this day the shame i felt whenever he wuz a strokin my haid n a'tellin the hole fambly one christmus bout how id quit a'runnin away.

twarnt ever that i wuz a thankin so much about gittin away as much as twuz wantin to see thangs n meet other folk, n whar we wuz a'livin thay werent inny folk nearby. so i always kindly thought i wuz lookin fer sumbidy to play with. i bleevd that fer mos of my yars till i run into a head-shranker who set me strate. ye gone hear more bout how i cum to need my head shrunk by n by, but fer now, suffice't to say, he askt me one of them questchuns that changes everythang. sed he, 'Where do you think a two-year old child could be running away to?" i dint have the answer, so he laborated this away, 'The fact is, two year old children are clingy and they have no concept of the world.' i still dint have no ansers, so he sed, 'The point is, Buddy, that you were running away from something, not running to something,' n whut cud that be?

my daddy wuz a good man but a hard'n. he wuz a u.s. marine raider in the secund worl war a figthin in the pacific n whenever he cum out he got a degree of sum kind n becum a spechul agent with the fbi n cummenced a having kids startin with me. day i wuz born, he broke out in shangles n had em fer a year, right up to my furst birthday. i reckon thats on a counta becawz whenever i wuz born, he knew he wuz stuck with a wife n kids n cudnt go after sum of his plans n so furth. he bleevd in displine n never spard the rod, as thay say, n i tasted it mos of all bein the oldest. i figgerd twuz part of life.

n whenever i foun myself at that bus stayshun in lost angels n dint no whut to do, i figgerd twuz as norml as bein hit by yer own daddy. twuz a scary lookin place whar peepl a'needin baths was a sleepin or hangin round n mos of em not even able to speek english, but i warnt nuthin if not stoopid brave bout thangs so i started a'walkin. dint make if fur befor sum guy pullt a knife on me n tried to take my duffl, witch he ended up a'stabbin the duffl whenever he mint to stab me n that give me a chants to kick him tween his laigs, n while he wuz dubled up, i wint back to the stayshun whar thay wuz plenty of folks. i hadnt bin scairt whenever the guy wuz attackin, but soon's i wuz back in the lite n in a safe place, seem lack my hart wonted to jump out frum my chess.

i walkt back to the door to that lost angels bus stayshun agin n lookt out n saw that i wudnt in a place i oughta be. fer a mint or so, i begun spectin that i wuznt runnin to sumthin but away frum it. n i wuz right fer a mint, but i gut distractid by havin to figger out whut to do.

it tuck me yars n a hed shranker to git me to member i wuz still a'runnin away.