Wednesday, November 05, 2003

refleckshuns of buddy don:
seein hisself thru a nuthers eyes


las nite i had dinner with a old frien name of george ochoa, witch hes the riter i writ bout yesterdy. i hadnt seen george in over a year. he n his fambly lives a lil north in whut they call 'upstate' new york, tho taint that far away. he takes the train in ever now n agin, n i had writ im a email astin did he wonta have dinner n talk sumtime.


we met in times square n walked over to a typical diner, witch the diners here is purty much all run by greeks. fack is, whenever i furst cum to the city, i wuz sprized by the way folks frum differnt cuntries wood speshulize in particlar kinds of wurk: ye gut indians at mos of the newstands, pakistnis drivin cabs, jews in the jewelry bizness, irish cops n firefiters, jamaican phlebotomists, n a corse, yer greeks in diners. a diner is a kinda coffee shop whar ye kin git mos innythang to eat and taint eggspensive n ye kin sit fer hours n talk n theyll jes keep branging ye coffee or tea or jes water.


the one we stopped at is called the red flame n its on 44th street jes east of 6th avenue, witch yer toursts calls thatn avenue of americas. he had sent me a story he had writ name of 'ten sleep,' n that wuz the main topick of conversayshun. i wont bore ye with too many of the details. far as i kin tell, whut riters talk bout amung theyselves aint all the innerestin to folks that aint riters, lease till the riter gits famus.


since he had sent me his story, i tole him a lil bout this blog n whut i wuz a trine to do. he read im a cuple of chapturs, witch he couldnt git the furst two to cum up on his screen so i gut wurk cut out fer me to figger why that wood be. then he gut to readin thisn n thatn on a counta i had dun splained bout how since tis a blog, each chaptur kindly has to be a cumplete reedin eggsperience kindly lack a lil story. corse, tiz also a novel that the riter (whoevers makin up buddy don n everthang he ever rites) is hopin will hang tugether.


innywho, he sed whenever he furst tuck a look at it, he dint lack it much on a counta he aint no big fan of riters that rite in dialeck, but beins how we been friens fer so long, he stuck with it. that wuz nice, but whut wuz better wuz how he sed once he gut the rhythm of it, witch he sed twuz musicull moren innythang else n i lacked that a lot, then he dint have no truble reedin it. but he had questchuns bout why i wood do such a thang.


fer instunts, he sed, hes been a'knowin me fer near 20 years n never once has he herd me talk thataway. tiz true on a counta ye cant git nowhar up here usin that kinda talk, tho folks luvs to here ye say yessir n nosir n yes ma'am n no ma'am, witch thatn seems to wurk purty good wharever ye go. but he sed thang wuz, whenever he wuz reedin them chapturs, witch he sed he lacked chaptur 46: shoot the devil n wuz amazed at its strucktchur n wundered how long it had tuck me to rite it. i tole him twuz lack all of em, i only had bout a hour n a half ever mornin to rite much of innythang n i wuz jes as amazed at the strucktchur of thatn n lots of them chapturs.


n thats a fack bout this here ritin thang ima trine to do. i cum up with buddy don as a care-acter n figgered he wood talk the way my grandparnts n even daddys generayshun talked on a counta they lacked to sit round n tell stories bout whut happened in the fambly. i cant say whar buddy don cum frum, but whenever i have the guts to call him up fer a nuther chaptur, seems lack i fall into a spell almos n then jes rite my fool fangers off n later i cant thank how i could a dun it.


thang is, it seems lack buddy dons a differnt purson frum me, witcht that wood be the riter whos makin all this stuff up outta his hed, even tho im the one sittin at the keybird whenever hes ritin. tis beyond innythang i kin splain.


mayhap the mos innerestin thang he sed bout it wuz how even tho hes never herd the riter of this talk lack buddy don, he sed he could here my voice whenever hes a reedin it. ye kin see why riters claims to have muses that heps em rite, only tiz hard to splain even by sumbidy whos eggspreriencin it.


bout all ye kin say bout it is how tiz quite a mystry. n i hope it keeps happenin!

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