wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 36:
sex, drugs n rock n roll

ye mite not member much bout how thangs wuz back in the summer of 1975. we had ford in the white house, n he had dun pardoned nixon absolutely back in 1974. the nashnul debt wuz up to $542 billyun, witch seemed hard to bleev then, but we dun larnt how to git the deficit up a lot higher now, thanks to raygun n dubya. thay wuz a cleanup after watergate, n folks wuz bein cunvicted right n lef. ye mite member thar names: haldeman, erlickman, mitchell, that hole bunch. one thang nixon had dun fer me wuz to git me to the point that i wood never vote fer a publican runnin fer presdint agin. period.

ye also had opec a razin thar oil prices n givin us murkins a reminder of how fragile our econumy wuz on a counta we wuz addicted to oil. as ye mite have noticed, thangs have gut wurse as far as thats cuncerned. inflayshun wuz 14%, witch tiz hard to bleev how bad twuz, but everbidy wuz wurried over it. a gallon of gas gut up to over 50 cent n thay wuz rumors everwhar that the fillin stayshuns wuz a fixin to git new pumps that could let em charge over a dollar a gallon, only mos folks sed that wuz a lie n that them a-rabs wood let up on the price before long. we all know how thatn went.

corse, thar wuz the last of the viet nam war, n thang i recolleck is how a bunch of our folks wuz havin to be saved by hellacopter frum the roof of that embassy or whutever twuz. thats the scene frum tv that has stuck with me. but the war wuz over n mos folks i knew wuz happy bout it. whut had we gut frum it cetpn a bunch of ded soljers n folks who dint die cumin back to be treated bad by folks that had gut outta goin.

in music that wuz the year fer still crazy after all these years, witch i dont member if innythang else good cum out that year. all in the family wuz still the best show on tv.

that movie called jaws cum out that year. i never seen it n never could git whut peeple found so interestin bout it. far as i could tell, twuznt even a likely thang to happen, witch most creetchurs frum natchur knows a nuff to git out of the way of folks on a counta how we lack to kill mos everthang we kin. thay wuz other movies lack one flew over the cuckoo's nest n rocky horror pitchur show n my favert of the bunch, monty python n the holy grail. i guess that one hit my funny bone so hard on a counta i lacked to call myself lookin fer god n all.

corse, twernt god a tall i wuz really chasin. twuz skirts. dont git me rong. i wuz to the point in life whar i thought bout god a lot n i wundered wuz thar one n if so how could ye be sure.

but the wurds that says tall bout them times, lease whar i wuz, wuz sex, drugs n rock n roll.

furst tho, brew n me had sum trubles bout the house we wuz a rentin in kingston. he lost his job, witch he had been a'wurkin out at eastern state mental hospital, a guardin the place of sumthin. twuz a low time in his life, n he dint know whut he wuz a'gone do fer money. round this same time, thay wuz a leak sprung in the pipes of the house, n cum januarys bill, they wuz astin fer $163 fer water. i dint have that kind a money, so i ast fer relief n they sed theyd have em a hearin on it but i wood have to pay furst.

by that time, i wuz sick of mos everthang darlene n i had dun had together, so i tuck to sellin it all off. sold the washer, dryer, stove n fridge to a guy at wurk, all of em fer $300 n he had to cum git em. he give em to he parnts, n they wuz rite pleezed. i did purt much the same with mos everthang ceptn the peeano n records n books.

n then brew n me, heds hangin low in defeat, moved back into our parnts place, sharin a downstairs room.

now ye mite be tempted to thank that once we wuz a livin thar, thay woodnt be no chance fer much in the way of sex or drugs, n even yer rock n roll wood have to be turnt down, but twuznt thataway. i had dun tole daddy bout smokin pot, n we had dun had many a argumint over whuther they should legal eyes it. he wood take one side n me tuther, n then whenever we wuz a makin our points purty reglar, he wood git us to switch sides, n ye kin bet that gut us a'goin.

so when we moved in, i ast him witch wood he ruther we do, smoke outside the house sumwhar or doot in our bedroom? n he sed he druther not know bout it, but seemed better in than out. so we did both in and out, but lease we wuz able to smoke inside. n we wood burn incents to give him reason to bleev thar wernt nuthin a'goin on.

but mama wuz differnt. she wonted to find out whut all the egcitemint wuz over, so she ast could she try it sumtime. i wuz wurkin steddy graveyards then, so i tole her we could have sum whenever i woke up on fridy evnin. n thats whut we dun. she wuz sprized at how gentle twuz. it gut to whar i wood wake up of a fridy evnin n thar she wood be, meersham pipe in hand n reddy to be lit. then she wonted to sit in our room fer the evnin a'gittin hi n listnin to musick, which her faverts were thangs lack america's sister golden hair n the eagles lyin eyes n thangs lack that thar. n thats whut we dun many a fridy evnin.

corse, i wuz on the prowl most of the time, n round 9 in the evnin, i wood go out n see whut i could find to do. twernt much to be dun in oak ridge, n sumtimes i wood partner up with brew n go over to the bars in knoxvul, mainly on the strip round ut n we wood drank beer n try to git sum gurl to dance, but we never once met innybidy thar that we made friens with.

one evenin i went by a place called the coffee house, witch the presbyteryuns wuz the ones holdin it. n thay wuz lack a open mike thar n thay had em a peeano n thay wuz lots of folk who cum out to em, n purty soon i had practiced up sum of my own songs n played thar ever now n agin.

n i started into meetin sum gurls, witch nowadaze ye wood half to call em women even ifn they wuz young, but in them daze ye called em gurls even ifn they wuz old. but meet em i did, n fer the mos part, twuz a lot of frustrayshun.

thay wuz one name of carla n she dint stand quite 5 feet. n she wuz nice n sexy n all, n she wonted us to do sum drugs n have sex, n i sed sounded lack fun, only i couldnt git over how whenever i wood try give her a hug, her nose wood be jammed into my belly. her drug cunneckhun never wurked out, n purty soon i tole her i couldnt pertend i wuz ever a'gone feel innythang fer her, n that ended that.

then thar wuz martha, witch i met her one nite whenever the coffee shop had dun closed n i went to shoneys big boy restrunt, witch wuz bout the only place that wuz open. eli wuz wurking thar a'washin dishes, so i ordered sum coffee n ast could i go back to see him, n since i had dun wurked thar, they let me go.

he had dun been thru his transformayshun by then, n he wuz in the humble stage bout his prospecks in life but preechy bout whut he bleeved. he ast could i give him a ride home, n i sed i wood, n went back out to the counter to wait on him.

n while i wuz thar, the busboy, name of brandon, witch he wuz gay n a'hittin on mos everbidy that cum in, so he cummenced to talkin with me, n one of the waitresses, name of martha, cum over n tole him i wuz not innerested, witch i ast her how could she know that, n she sed on a counta i wuz a'gone take her home.

n thats whut happened, n that started the story of martha, witch thars a few twists n turns toot. fer one thang, she wuz marrd. n we struck up a lil thang, witch ima gone tell that one direckly.

n thay wuz a gurl at wurk name of debby, n we flurted lack crazy till she add mitted she wuz marrd n by then i had dun figgered out that twernt wurth the effort on a counta i had dun larnt that frum martha.

n i spoze i could make a countin of ever one i did innythang with, witch mosly twuz to chase em n rarely to catch em, n the few times i did, twuz more truble than twuz wurth, but seemed lack i had to prove sumthin to sumbidy, only i couldnt say who twuz, but sumbidy, mayhap twuz darlene, ceptn she dint have no way of knowin whut i wuz up to. i cant hardly splain it now, but i wood be after two or three of em most of the time, n i thought i wuz havin big adventchurs. but they dint go nowhar.

the story of martha splains tall purty well. she wuz the furst blond hedded woman i ever had sex with, n that part of it wuznt all that good. after i give her the ride home, witch we had dun kissed n touched each other that furst nite while we wuz a waitin fer eli to git dun, n whenever he cum, he sed we wuz sinnin agin the lord on a counta she wuz marrd, n martha sed he had better wurry bout his own problems n not ourn, n she wuz rite, but he wuz rite too.

she ast me wood i cum over the nex tuesdy afternoon, n i dun it, n she had her a cuple friens thar, n we waited fer em to leeve, n ever so often she wood call me into the kitchen n we wood kiss n she wood do her bes to git me all hot n bothered, witch it dint take much to do that, speshly since she wuz a wearin one of them halter tops n no bra. finely the gurls lef n we wuz rollin roun on the couch. n whenever her husbin cum home, we jumped n pullt our cloze together. ye wood thank her husbin, witch his name wuz kevin, ye wood thank he wooda been able to tell whut wuz a'gone on, but he jes tuck a seat and ast did i wont a beer, witch i tuck one even tho i only wonted to leeve soons i could.

but thangs wuz dun started with martha n me, n she gut to whar she wood cum by mamas place round 2 in the afternoon, witch in them daze i wood wurk the graveyard n then go to skool, n then cum home n git in bed by round 2 n sleep till round 10 n then doot all agin. n we wood smoke a joint n have sex n seemed lack twernt much good only she lacked it on a counta she couldnt git a nuff.

now she wuz blue eyed n her husbin wuz too. so whenever she cum up pregnunt, thar wuz confushyun over who the daddy mite be. n she wuz bold. when i gut back on day shif, she wood cum by of an evnin now n agin, n i member one time whenever she wuz out to here we drove out to a park by milton hill lake n she ast wood i have sex n i sed i druther not n she tuck off her shorts n lay down n ast did i change my mine, n i dint wont to doot, but seemed lack i had to proov i could, so i did.

lookin back, i reckon i spent too much time proovin i could do this or that, n i guess thats part of bein 23 years old n thankin ye gut to larn n do n see everthang.

fack is, seemed lack i wuz a'gittin my share of the sex, drugs n rock n roll that wuz a'cumin to me, but thay wuznt all thay wuz cracked up to be.

that evnin in the park wuz the las time i dun innythang with martha, n it made her mad that i dint wonta keep on. but i wuz hartless then, n corse, i paid fer it later.

but on the one way street of life, thar wuz no turnin back.