wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 39:
a gift of silver

in the fall of 1975 mama n daddy had thar 25th weddin anniversry. i wuz a'livin at home then, witch i dun already splained that, n i decided i wood make em a present they woodnt never fergit n trick daddy into smokin sum of theevil weed into the bargin n heres how i dun it.

furst thang i dun wuz to rite em a song, witch i called it 'a gift of silver' n the wurds went sumthin lack this here:

she wuz a poor gurl frum the cumberlund mountins
born jes in time to see her daddy die
she run away when her mama remarried
she was too young to know twuz goodbye

she never saw the door to the hi skool
she had to make her own way
she wurked in truck stops up n down the county
jes a'livin her life frum day to day

wuznt she the furst i ever touched?
wernt her brests the furst i ever tasted?
wuznt her luv the furst thang i ever knew?
wuznt it the furst i ever wasted?

he wuz a soljer jes home frum the war
wastin his time in the truck stop life
he'd had his fill of them part time evenins
he wuz lookin fer a full time wife

they met each other by the stranges coincidents
i guess ye mite call it fate
they luved n fought thar way thru 25 years
n neethur one of em thanks tiz too late

sum mite say, thar life wuz bland
sum mite say, twuz jes a bore
but the put the universe rite in my hand
how could innyone ast fer more?

then i made em a invite that sed thar present wood be thar fer em on a sartin fridy nite when i made shore thay wuznt nobidy else speckted home. n then i made em a program fer the concert i wuz a'gone sang em, kindly lack a church program combined with a himnal on a counta i put in the wurds to the songs. corse, i picked a a fridy nite so everbidy wuz off the next day, n the invite sed they wuz to cum down round 9 pm after i wuz awake n washed n all.

so they cum down to the room that brew n me wuz a'sharin n we talked a bit. i tole em whut i wonted to give em wuz a egsperients they woodnt never fergit n that to make shure twuz sumthin that stuck out in thar memries, i ast em wood they git hi furst. n whenever they dint git whut i mint, i ast em wood they smoke sum of theevil weed.

well, ye kin jes magine how daddy tuck that. he dint know that mama had dun been smokin theevil weed fer ever since brew n me moved back in, n she acted lack she wuz jes as shocked as he wuz. but ye could also see that daddy wuz powerful curyas to know whut all the fuss wuz about. so i mentshuned bout how ye need to see tuther side of a argumint ifn ye a'gone beat it n the one part of the eternul argumint over theevil weed that he woodnt never try wuz to see whut twuz lack to git hi.

mama jumped in here to say she wuz brave a nuff to give it a try n that went strate to daddy on a counta he wuz always proud bout how brave he wuz. so i loaded up that meersham pipe virgil give me with sum colombian redbud, witch whenever that colombian stuff cum out twuz stronger'n innythang we had ever dun smoked n it drove the price up to $35 a ounce. i lit it n offert it over to mama n she acted lack she dint know whut to do, so i put the pipe out n splained bout how ye tuck a toke with lots of air n held it purty much as long as ye kin, witch she dun knew all that.

n then i put on sum marty robbins on a counta i knew daddy couldnt hardly resist them kinda songs, n i promisst that ifn he tuck a few puffs off'n the pipe, he wood hear thangs in the musik he hadnt never herd befor.

twuz a nuff fer mama. she grabed the pipe n lit it up n tuck her a big ole toke n offert it to daddy, n ye could see he wuz sorely tempted n confused. he resisted fer two tokes, but on the thurd he sed, 'whut the hell, lets git this over with,' lack he wuz jes a'doin it so we could git to the nex part of the program.

purty soon that pipe wuz dun n daddy wuz astin when he wood feel innythang n that made mama laff n then she sed she felt lack she mite be a'feelin sumthin n then daddy sed could we all be quite on a counta marty robbins wuz sangin el paso. n that made mama n me laff so hard i had to start the song back over agin. n we gut reel quite n listend bout as keeful as ye kin n twuz the furst time i ever member us listnin to a song thataway.

n when twuz over, daddy sed, 'ever good song tells a story.' n then he went on bout how that made cuntry so much better'n rock n roll, witch that wuz a ole argumint we used to have. i wuz tempted to ast him could he take tuther side of it, but i knew that wood leave mama out n purty soon twood jes be the two of us a makin our points n arguin till we wuz too tired to go on.

so i ast em wuz they reddy fer the concert n they sed they wuz so we went upstars n i played em four of five of my best songs, witch thay wuz thangs lack 'wurkin the graveyard' n 'purty ugly cuntry' n 'and now shes gone.'

n then i ast em wuz they feelin hi yet, n mama sed yes n daddy sed no, so i tole em i had sumthin speshul a'cumin up, so they agreed to go back downstars n burn anuther lil bowl.

n this time daddy sed he mite be a'feelin sumthin, so we went back upstars n i sang em that new song. n mama cride n daddy sed he had sumthin in his eye n then they made me sang it agin n then i sed i had to leeve on a counta i wuz still a wurkin midnites n i woodnt be able to sleep till the next day.

but the bes part wuz later on when i ast mama whut daddy had thought bout the evenin, n she thought i mint did he lack gittin hi, so she tole me she had sumthin to cunfess n i ast her whut. she ast me wuz i a'gonna be mad n i sed i couldnt ritely say till i knew whut twuz she had dun. so she splained that the next nite, after i had dun gone out, she ast daddy did he wonta see could he git hi, n she wuz sprized whenever he sed why not? so they borrowed my pipe n a bowlful n smoked it. n they listend to sum musik.

then they went upstars n daddy ast wuz mama tired n she sed she wuznt n he ast did she wonta go to bed innyway. so they did n whenever they wuz a'takin off thar close, daddy sed to mama, 'i thank i see why the young'ns lack this stuff so much.'

far as i know, they never smoked it agin. but frum then on, daddy had a new way of arguin agin theevil weed, witch he sed it seem lack twood make a bidy lazy n fat. n i dint have a anser fer that'n, not then n not now.

n mama tuck sumthin frum it n years later, after i had dun made a mess of my life, she splained it to me thisaway. she sed thay wuz 2 kinds of peeple in the worl, them that collecks thangs n tham that collecks egsperients, n i wuz in the second bunch. n it seemed lack she wuz a'sayin that the furst wuz the better bunch on a counta at lease whenever they died they had sumthin to leeve behin. so i ast her whuther twooda been better ifn ida give em a silver goblet or sumthin fer thar 25th weddin anniversry n that gut her to thankin.

'no,' she sed, 'twuz better lack twuz on a counta twuz a gift of silver that we never forgot, not even when yer daddy wuz in that last hospital.'

so i ast wuz it better fer me that i wuz in the second bunch, n she sed she dint thank so, lessn i could find away to make the egsperients into silver.

n thats whut i been trine to do ever since.