wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 40:
a lil life in the jungle

i often refer to the time between my furst two wives as life in the jungle on a counta how everthang was such a confused profushun n not all of it nice. tiz hard to strang together a coherunt story frum some of the stuff. truth is, when ye aint marrd ye have lots of time fer fool behavyer. i gut in plenty n mayhap the bes way to splain it is to give ye bits n pieces of it.

furst thang, theres the friends ye make. corse, thar wuz eli n brew n they wuz bof bruthers n friends. n thar wuz joe noles, only he kep a'gittin arrested so i dint see him all that regular. n thar wuz sam on a counta we wuz still a trine to make musik but mainly jes bein friends up till he becum a jew fer jesus. the two of us went round a lot together in them days. but he wuznt my only friend.

a nuther'n that tuck a lot of time wuz a guy name of martin warner, witch everbidy called him marty. i met marty at harlowes donut shop whenever i wuz wurkin swang shif. he wuz jes out of hi skool n plannin on a'goin to tennessee state on a skolarship they had fer white studints on a counta they dint have many of em. we made friends when i wuz wurkin evenins by playin tennis most all nite over on the corts off of tennessee avenue. we wuz purty evenly matched so the games wuz good.

frum that, we becum purty good friends n darlene n me wuz even considerin a'gettin one of them skolarships to tennessee state our ownselves, witch darlene turnt out to be afraid of bein round so many black folk on a counta she wuznt used toot. but we spent a few weekends a'visitin marty n his gurlfriend, witch she wuz a woman name of anny who lacked the wurd shit bettern innythang, as in she wood say, 'dont eat there, the food tastes like shit,' or 'they give us more shit to do at wurk than there is time for,' or 'dont give me any shit, marty.' we found her to be a disagreebull person, but whut ye a'gone do?

i went on many a adventchur with marty. one time we drove down to memphis to see the stones in a concert at leejun field n while we wuz thar we met sum black folk who had em sum drugs to shar n we tuck em n then they played 'brown sugar' n i gut to dancin in the heat of the evenin with the purtiest black gurl i ever seen n purty soon her boyfriend cum n gut between us n then tuck her away n when she waved at me behind his back it seemed lack it went right thru me n i wisht i coulda gut to know her better. i even dreamd bout her a time or two but i never knew her name nor innythang else bout her.

corse the main thang we dun wuz chase gurls n the wurst nite cum whenever we caught us one. happened thisaway. i wuz drivin along the oak ridge turnpike one day n a car passed me with a bumper sticker that sed 'honk if you're horny' so i caught up to see ifn i wuz intrested n the driver wuz a purty cute gurl n tuthern wuz even purtier, so i honked n they looked over n laffed n i fell in behind em n followed till the pulled into the parkin lot up by the murkin lejun. n thar names wuz nikki n diane n they wundered wood i meet em at the lejun round 2 am on fridy nite. marty wuz plannin on cumin to visit so i tole em i had a friend i wood brang n they wuz rite glad bout it.

so marty cum in n the two of us got hi n went to the coffeeshop n then drove roun till bout midnite n then we ate n then we went to the lejun. nikki wuz thar at the door n she gut us in fer free. i ast whar wuz her friend n she sed diane couldnt make it but she sed she wood be gittin off soon so could we have a drank n wait a bit. so we did n purty soon she cum out n we gut into my car. marty wuz a'drivin on a counta she was kindly lack my friend n i wuz a'gone see whuther i could sweet talk her into innythang. ackshully, i talked her into gittin in the backseat n purty soon we wuz nekkid n doin the deed only twuz bout the mos misrubull sex ever had by inny human, lease frum my side. she seemed rite pleesed with thangs n pore marty had to drive fer the longest while i wuz a trine to git dun but i couldnt n after bout two hours i finely fakt it.

we wuz over by kingstun then so we pullt into a gas stayshun n nikki went to the bathroom to cleen up. n marty wunderd wuz he a'gonna git a chants with her, n i sed that wood depend on her. so she cum back n gut in the frunt seat between us only i wuz drivin this time. she scooted over close to me n put her hed on my shoulder. n rite then i had a chants not to do whut i dun, witch wuz let him pull on her without a lookin at her once till she finely give up on me n clumb into the back seat with marty. n bout half a hour later i wuz a carryin her into her apartment n puttin her to bed, jes lack she wuz a lil chile. i even tucked the covers n tole her a story bout the animuls in the jungle. n she went to sleep while i wuz a tellin it so i left.

when i got out to the car, marty wuz all fired up bout the misticull meanin of whut we had jes dun. he wuz talkin bout the path of excess that leeds to enlitement, but he quit whenever he could see i wuznt goin fer it. n he sed he could see how sad my life wuz n he wuz so glad he had anny. n i ast him wuz he a'gone tell anny bout nikki? but i knew the anser. but he claimed it dint matter on a counta she understood the path of excess n how twurked with the misticull path.

fack is, twuz a time of misticull thoughts, speshly on a counta eli a'goin thru his transformayshun n the way he acted after tall. he gut to whar he bleevd he could member the future n bleevd he could fly n tell whuther folks wuz more spirtchul, physicull or emoshunull jes by a'lookin at the lines in thar eyes. n he wuz a'reedin everthang he could bout that kinda stuff, frum kerkegaard to nietzshe to alan watts to meister eckhart to aldous huxley to rimbaud n baudelaire n he cum away with a confusin mix of idees that almos fell together.

but it led to truble, as ye mite could magine. he gut to whar he wuz speekin in tongues n daddy sed one day the phone rang n he anserd it n the hole conversayshun wuz in gibberish. he never figgered out who had called. but eli claimed that innybidy who had dun had thar doors of percepshun opened wuz a'gone be visted by spirits bof good n evil n wuz a'gonna larn to speek in tongues n he sed the proof wuz whut happened at pentacost.

this made daddy laff, but eli cum back with sumthin that stopped him. twuz a evenin when jes eli n daddy wuz home n eli tole daddy he wuz wurried bout whut he mite could do sumday. n daddy give him the reglar treetmint, witch he wonted to git a argumint a'goin n then switch sides n all only that wuz a game eli never cared for n never played. in sted he tole daddy to shut his trap fer a mint n splained that twuz all he could do sum evenins to keep frum a'gittin up n takin the butcher knife to him on a counta them same doors of percepshun that let the angels in n larnt him how to speak in tongues also let in the demons and even the devil his ownself, n whenever they cum in, they gut to wurkin on gittin eli to do sumthin awful.

daddy later tole me that one nite he woke up on a counta thar bein a lite in the kitchen n then he herd eli in thar a'lookin thru the knives n twuz such a shock that even daddy wuz scairt. he wuznt the kind of man to take a challenge lyin down, so he gut up n went to cunfront eli but whenever he stepped into the kitchen, the lites wuz doused. he figgered twuz eli a'lookin fer a chants to git him so he dropped n rolled n gut to whar he wuz safe n turnt the lites back on. n thar wernt nobidy thar. so he went downstars to check wuz eli thar, n he wuz sound asleep n daddy tride to wake him up, but he wuz ded to the worl n couldnt be stirred a tall. n daddy wuznt the kind to bleev in thangs that ye couldnt proov so whenever he tole me this, twuz a friteful prospeck.

one day eli cum over to mamas n tole us he could fly n to proov it, he jumped frum the carport, witch twuz about two stories up frum the back yard, whar he landed n twisted his ankle up purty good. he claimt he could heal it a'usin spit n sum grass, witch he plucked sum blades frum whar he fell on a counta he sed they wuz sorry fer hurtin him. n that led to daddy a'takin him down to peninsula hospital out alcoa highway.

i went to visit him n he tole me he wuz a'gone be out the next day only they wuz a'gone put him in oak ridge mental hospital, witch i had dun been thar by then. i ast him how did he know he wuz a'gittin out n he tole me he could member the future n that wuz whut he memberd. he tole me i could member the future too on a counta us bein spirtchul twins but i couldnt never git it to wurk. ye kin tell that by whut yer readin on a counta ifn i could member sum the stuff frum the future i lackly woodnt a made so many miss takes.

but he gut out jes lack he sed he wood n they tuck him to ormhc n he stayed thar fer a week or two n cum out jes as crazed as he went in. while he wuz in, we had a fambly council, witch that wuz a idee daddy cum up with whenever we wuz jes lil n he planned on a'havin one ever week only we quit after havin bout three of em n then went years without em. but he called one n everbidy wuz thar.

thang wuz, whut kin ye do in a sitchuwayshun lack that? ye kin talk n try to cast the blame somewhar itll stick. mama blamed drugs but bof brew n me dint give that'n much time on a counta everbidy wuz a'doin all the same drugs n only eli wuz a'gittin all crazed lack that. n maisie sed twuz on a counta he wuz a scairt of bein hurt, witch she wuz probly rite all long bout that. n seemed to me lack he wuz lazy, n brew sed he wuz a dud n ye had to face facts that in life thar wuz duds jes lack in cars thars lemons. n purty soon thar wuz a fuss n fite, so brew n me left.

twuz a fridy nite so i called marty in nashvul n ast did he wont cumpny fer the weekend n he did so i drove down thar. turnt out he wuz into the same misticull mumbo jumbo that eli wuz a spoutin n he wonted me to go here n turn thar all on whutever whim he wuz a feelin at the time. n purty soon we had us a good fuss n fite a'goin on a counta i tole him i thought followin them whims led ye to places lack peninsula n ormhc. n he reminded me bout the trip to memphis n the stones n the beautiful gurl i had danced with n wuznt that jes followin yer whims? n i ast him whar did it lead on a counta i never saw her agin n sides that twernt mint fer me to git hooked up with a black gurl on a counta all the problems that wood make fer us. ifn i coulda membered the future i woodnt a sed that! then he sed i wuz a bigot n i sed he wuz a'gettin soft in the hed n ifn the path of excess wuz it n anny knew it, then he should tell her bout nikki n ifn he woodnt, i wood n that right thar ended that friendship.

eli gut out purty soon after that n i wuz the one who picked him up to take him home. we tuck a drive n gut hi furst, n i splained bout whut had happened with marty. n he sed twuz bout time i saw thru marty n i sed whut did he mean n he sed he could see that marty wuz stuck in the physicull worl by the way his eyes wuz. n i sed that wuz bullshit but then he sed he bet marty bleevd ye could git to enlitenment by excess. n that struck me dum, as they say.

then he ast did i member how he could member the future n i wunderd how i could member sumthin i never knew but i only sed i membered him a'tellin me that. n he sed he memberd that i wuz a'gonna wunder in the jungle fer a nuther year till after virgil n myra jane moved here n i had met the jew gurl, witch i couldnt make no sense of that. so i ast him how did he know bout them n he sed he membered they wuz cumin on a counta twuz in the future.

'but ye dont have to wurry bout it, bro, on a counta im jes crazy, rite?'