Friday, October 31, 2003

foybulls of buddy don:
still a lergick to likker


i writ bout goin out fer sum cultcher las nite, but im shamed to say it dint hardly take. we had us a good time n all, eatin at that thar greek restrunt. i tuck the pre theater speshul, witch it cum with appetizer, ontray n deesert. i picked the salad fer the appetizer n twuz the kinda salad they ackshly have in greece, witch it dint have no lettuce but only tomaters n cucumbers n cheese n onions n the lack. the fish wuz jes fine even ifn it did cum perched up on a bed of chick peas, witch ye mite know em as garbonzo beans. (daddy had im a can of them garbonzo beans fer mos of my life n when we wood git to acktin up, he wood threaten to make em fer dinner, n it wurked ever time. i member many a time when we wuz fussin n fitin n pickin on roena may n we wood cum into the kitchen n thar on the counter wuz them beans n we knew we had better behave ifn we dint wonta eat em, n we dint n thang is, theys grate once ye try em -- they gut em this thang called a felafel up here that they make out of em, n tiz delishus!) n fer deesert they brung me this stuff called yogurt with honey n nuts n mint, witch twuz rite nice.


n corse, bein with sofistickated folk, we had us a bottle of wine. or ackshly, a cuple bottles of wine. n shore as yer born, my lergickull symptums gut to acktin up. i wuz talkin too much n laffin too loud n by time the meal wuz dun n twuz time to walk over to carnegia hall, i wuznt feelin much pain n had to watch my step to keep frum bumpin into thangs.


but that warnt the wurse. that cum whenever i woke up this mornin with my mouth dry as dust n my head achin as if to remind me that i wuz still lergick.


as fer the concert, twuz four of us together, a frien of mine n both our wives. we gut seated n our frien gut to playin that huge peeano n that woman with the long name gut to scrapin on that violin, makin music outta sum musickal notayshun that brahms writ fer em a cuple centries ago, n i looked over to my frien n saw his head wuz bowed. i thought he mite coulda been prayin till he started snorin. then nex thang i know, my own wife is wakin me up n astin wuz i reddy to go. i wuz.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

plans of buddy don -- git yer cultcher:
steve ryan, pianist exter-ordinair


i gut this frien name of steve ryan who's one of the bes piano pickers ever. hes playin at one of the carnegie halls smaller halls tonight with a violin player name of Hlif Sigurjonsdottir or sumthin lack that, witch a violin is a lot lack a fiddle. i cant git the lank to wurk, but im puttin it in jes in case it cums back up. innywho, ima gone git me a lil cultcher this evnin, startin with a greek meal at a restrunt name of malyvos n then on to here steve n hlif playin thar instermints at or near carnegie hall.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

pinions of buddy don -- a cuple literchur revus:
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk



i take that bus frum hoboken over to manhattan everday on a counta i wurk over thar. tiz a quick ride mos of the time n my total bill fer gittin back n forth to "the city" is $65 a month, total, fer as many rides as i wonta take. durin the ride, i read, n sumtimes, lack when the lincoln tunnel is slow, witch that happens ifn i leave out from home too late, lack say, after 7 am, then that ride kin take a while. so it mite be nuthin but a fifteen mint ride or it mite take as long as a hour. taint often i half to take a later bus, so i kin git frum here to thar in bout 25 mints, includin the walk after i git to 42nd street/port authority.


durin the ride i lack to read. one of the guys that wurks fer me tole me bout a book name of survivor by the guy that writ fight club, witch they made a movie outta thatn n i reckon lots of yuns dun seen it. i never saw the movie, but the guy is one of the best wurkers i ever had, so i gave the book a read.


twuz a real delite n quite a commentary on life in the modern worl: thays stuff on educayshun, fame, relijun, brutherhood n suicide, but its also the kinda thang that could make ye laff out loud on the bus. try to avoid that. ifn ye lack a real good read, i recommend it. i could barely put it down n twuz over befor i knowed it. one of the innerestin thangs bout it is how it starts at page 289 and wurks its way down to page 1. i kinda lack that on a counta how easy it makes it to figger out how much ye gut lef. in this case, twernt a nuff.


"The Glass Wife" by Lydia Copeland


i lack to look round the innernet to find thangs wurth readin, n thats how i cum to find this author name of lydia copeland. she writes short stories n far as i kin tell, she dont have no book out yet. she's gut a few stories up what ye kin git to em:



"Empty Houses"
"Fingerprints"
"The Dream"
"The End of Today"
"Wyoming"


then thars whut i thank is the best of the lot n one of the bes stories i dun read innywhar, witch thats her story name of "The Glass Wife." ifn ye gut time fer jes one story, and it aint all that long, ye oughta treat yerself to thisn. tiz wise beyond the years of this yung writer, n tiz one i been able to read a few times n find more to lack in it each time.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

pinions of buddy don -- book revu:
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence



thays a book that oughta be required readin fer all the folks involved in fitin or makin policies bout fitin in iraq or inny other arab cuntry, n that is that famus wurk by T. E. Lawrence, sumtimes called Lawrence of Arabia, name of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (ye kin git ye one sent to yer door by clickin on the pitcher above). Ifn ye aint read it, ye oughta on a counta tiz a grate bit of ritin n it carries a message everbidy needs to read. fack is, ifn our presdint wuz a reader, thisn wood be a goodn fer him to read.


in case ye missed it, thisn covers the actchuns of the british troops agin the turks in the furst worl war. the brits had em this guy name of lawrence on thar side, n he wuz the genius who gut the arabs to thank bout two thoughts that folks seems to forgit nowadays. the furstn is he taught em that they needed to thank bout all arabs as a movemint or even as sumday havin a state. corse, thangs dint wurk out just thataway on a counta the folks with the mos power gut to rite the new borders, witch thats how we cum to have a cuntry lack iraq thats really three cuntries in one, a kurdish one n a shi'ite one n a sunni one. keepin them three together tuck lots of suppreshun n tortchur n violents.


ifn ye git this one concept, then ye kin git beyond thankin that if thars a syrian found fitin in iraq that the syrian gummint has innythang to do with it. a bidy needs to cunsidder at lease the concept that sum arabs still wont to thank of themself as one folk thats fitin them that wonts to take thar land n tell em witch borders to use n whut kinda gummint to have n so on.


mayhap ifn we had a cuntry with so much power they could jes waltz rite in here n take over, we wood see sum thangs a lil differnt. i hope we woodnt jes lie down n take whutever the invaders tole us to take. we wood be fitin back, mayhap to the las persun. n ifn they wuz insultin our tradishuns n doin thangs to us that we cunsiddered insultin to our elderly n wives n all, then we wood be verr mad. n tiz a greevus insult to a arab to show the bottom of the foot, so how kin they lack bein pushed down n havin boots put on thar necks?


mayhap tuther lessn that folks needs to larn is even more is the form of war lawrence taught them arabs to use. he figgered thar wuznt no way of makin the turks go away. they had the equipment n the numbers n yew name it. so they figgered they wood use the fack that the turks wuz stuck whar they wuz with long lines to provide provishuns n all. he figgered they could inflick maximum damage by keepin them turks whar they wuz n disruptin them with bombs n such till they gut to whar they couldnt git nuthin dun.


ifn thays inny arabs that member this tale, mayhap the figgered theyd let the coalishun troops in to git setup n then use the methods they larned frum lawrence to make em suffer n wonta git out.


by the way, i aint sayin we should git out. i aint smart a nuff to know the anser, but readin that book cunvints me that thars more to the opposishun than jes bitter-enders n terrists n such. thays sum folks thar that luvs thar cuntry of iraq n hates seein a bunch of forn troops runnin thar tanks n humvees thru thar streets. twood make inny of us mad a nuff to fite.


i know that whut i am sayin is agin whut our presdint wuz a'sayin jes yesterdy, n i thank he's makin a big miss take. he claims thays killin us n attackin us on a counta our bein free n brangin freedum to iraq. he thanks them folks attackin hates us fer makin progress. that dont fit with nuthin i know bout folks. they dont git into suicidal angry rages agin progress or freedum. they doot on a counta thays mad at bein invaded n havin thar women treated bad n thar old people n children killed by acksident. thays plenty of reasons to git mad a nuff to kill yerself in a attack, but our bein free aint one of em. ifn we wuz free n stayin in our own back yard, they woodnt have no reason to attack us.


a nuther thang i should make clear n that has to do with whut i rote tuther day bout christchun soldjers. i aint claimin to be no christchun. far frum it. mayhap i could make it sumday, but so far, i aint thar. but i do bleev that ifn yer a christchun n ye really wonta follow christ n they way he dun, then ye jes cant support killin, no how, no way.


tiz part of the reason friedrich nietzsche wrote them lines bout 'god is dead. the christchun god is unworthy of bleef.' he had plenty reasons fer sayin that, but one of the mane ones wuz how tiz a pacifist relijun n he bleeved twuz importunt to be able to kill n defend yerself n yer idees n bleefs. lots of folk thank that. tiz an oversimplificayshun to state it thisaway, thou it gives ye a idee of why he sed it. he wuz also cuncerned bout how christchun moralty made slaves of folks n he bleeved thar wuz a higher order of human possibull. i aint a'gittin into that argumint, but lots of folks that luvs the second amendment n carryun dedly force mite like readin nietzsche.

Monday, October 27, 2003

more eggscuses of buddy don


this heres my furst year at this place ima wurkin. i gut thar the hard way. after wurking ten years on wall street, i lef n hoped to find my fortchun elsewhar n had a good run till them terrorists dun whut they dun on 9/11. that killt the lil cumpny i wuz wurkin fer on a counta we wuz rite near them towers n our clients wuz firms that had em folk in them towers n they couldnt pay whut they owed rite away n we couldnt verr well press em on it. so i tuck whutever i could find, witch twuz a awful job a'wurkin fer a legal firm. long bout a year after that, i gut a job offer frum sum of them folks i had dun wurked with on wall street n back i went fer the better pay n treatment.


corse it mint much longer hours, n thangs dont git longer than whenever yer a'doin yer ee-valu-wayshuns. i thought i had dun finished mine, but turnt out i wuz only jes beginnin. now thars a nuther week of thangs to git dun, so i mite not kin rite much durin this here week lessn i git them dun furst. n thats my reason only i know tiz more of a eggscuse.


thankee agin fer yer payshunts.

Friday, October 24, 2003

pinions of buddy don: christchun soldjers


no doubt ye dun read bout this here genrull name of william boykin who lacks to dress up in his uniform n give talks to churches bout how our god is biggern thars n how tiz satan whos the real enemy n all he bleevs our soldjers needs to do thar killin in the name of jesus.


now this here blogs dun prooved whar i aint much of a eggspurt on innythang, but i have read the bible a few times n i cant figger sum thangs out bout christchun soldjers. sum of thar leaders lacks to ask, 'whut wood jesus do?' n they pertend lack thar doon jes that. only thang is, jesus dun had his chants to take over the worl by force whenever satan his ownself offert it to him. mayhap ye dun read bout it yer ownself, but ifn ye missed it or feel asleep in church the day they went over it, here tiz agin:


[Matthew 4:8-10] "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."


now thays sum that mite say that dont proov nuthin. ye kin be a soldjer n carry guns n kill folk n all n still be a christchun. but that dont square hardly with summa them other thangs jesus sed n dun. he sed ye wuz to luv yer naybor as yer ownself n that all folks is naybors n since folks dont generly lack to be killt, then how kin ye be doin rite ifn yer killin?


then thars that time in gethsemane, witch thatn seems to state it all:


[Matthew 26:46-53] "Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out [his] hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"


thay cant be nuthin more preshus to inny christchun than jesus his ownself but when they cum to take him away, he woodnt have no soldjers fitin fer him. n he made that famus statement bout livin by the sword leads to dyin by it. he had more power than even the presdint of the united states with them leejuns of angels but he dint use em to stamp out evil or proov how his god wuz biggern innybidy elses god.


but thay is evil folk in the worl, folk who will do ye rong. n that seems purty gosh darn awful, but even thar, jesus give instruckshuns on whut ye wuz spozed to do:


[Matthew 18:21-35] "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took [him] by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."


heres a parabull bout two men that dies n gits up to judgment.


n one of em wuz a grate soldjer who had led campains agin evil n terror n all. n to his credit wuz the deaths of thousands of enemies who wuz trine to kill his christchun friens n take his christchun cuntry over n steal his christchun goods.


n tuthern wuz a meek n humble man, witch ye aint lackly to find them in no genrulls uniform. he wuz frum the same cuntry as the grate soldjer but he had dun refused to fite n hadnt killt nobidy.


n the judge of all ast the grate soldjer whuther he had luved his naybors, all his naybors, n the genrull sed he had, but the judge ast him bout them folks he had killt, n the grate soldjer sed thay wuz evil, n the judge ast dint he know thar wuz a judge of the worl to take care of them thats evil? n dint he have no faith that the judge of the worl could do his job? n wuz it the christchun thang to do to practice evil by killin his naybors in sted of luvin em? n the judge splained how the worl wuz a place of illushun n the only thangs that wuz real wuz the life of heaven or hell, n in heaven thay wuznt room fer folks that couldnt larn to luv thar enemies lack jesus taught em to do.


n fer tuthern thay wuz no questchuns on a counta he had dun larnt bout luvin his naybors n dyin for it by not bein willin to compromise his bleefs even when twuz hard on a counta bein attacked n all. n the humble man sed he had been scairt n wundered wuz he a coward n he had even prayed to have his fate lifted frum him, lack jesus dun three times in that garden, astin to have that cup tuck frum him. but he sed he dint thank twuz his place to judge who wuz evil n desurved to die n he sed twuz all he could do to forgive them that dun trespassed agin him.


n the judg of the worl wuz able to tell the true christchun.

Thursday, October 23, 2003

pinions of buddy don: wurds


i been trine to put wurds to my life or mayhap ye mite could say i been trine to put my life into wurds. i aint so nigh-eve as to thank ye kin fit life into wurds, but i been playin with wurds so long i cant hardly quit. the subjecks been a cunundrum frum the verr beginnin. heres a sample of my thoughts on the subjeck in 1977:


Tuesday, November 1, 1977


After this morning's drive into school, I began walking -- with a pack of books sitting appropriately monkeylike on my back -- towards this oasis, the McClung Undergraduate Library. As I did so, words flowed through my mind. The other day the word "precession" came up in a conversation. Seeking its meaning in a small dictionary proved a disappointing venture, so everyone fell back upon experiential definitions. "Precession of the equinoxes" seemed a good starting point as did discussion of graphs, changes of direction, near perfect circles and other word groups. No one knew the meaning. Later Suze and I looked it up in my unabridged dictionary. The definition confused me but enlightened her. It contained as many new terms (to me) as it defined, at least as many. Suze had learned the terms while in college.


When Virgil and I went our separate ways after this morning's coffee, I began walking around looking at the different buildings here. Ayers Hall: people learn the language of mathematics; Physics Building: people use exact definitions of words like force, inertia, gradient, vector, polar coordinates to learn physical "laws"; Ferris Hall: people learning to use computers to take date from and control various portions of reality by learning languages which computers can interpret; Communications: interpretive reporting, lead, upside down pyramid, what when where who why and how, local interest, human interest, local color, features, headlines -- what a mass of words; Humanities and Social Sciences Building (McClung Tower or The Tower: itself a symbol [see the Tarot]): learning to use various word systems -- psychology and schizophrenia, behaviorists, Freudian, psychosis, paranoia, lithium, librium, transactional analysis, hierarchy of needs, analysis -- sociology and disadvantaged groups, social animal, animal without instincts, the public, statistical data on prevalence of marijuana use, divorce, abortion, problems in aggregate vs. solutions, unified, Auguste Comte (voila: man, society, woman to God (our comfort is her breasts) -- English and a thousand grammatical, stylistic, "--ismistic" (real, natural, romantic, lyric, existential) -- philosophy and . . . but do I dare go on??


Many people are unaware that the University is nothing more than a place to learn the manipulation, power, rules, assumptions, ambiguities, (let me put the grand etc. here), etc. of language(s). Until you learn that it's the manipulation of symbols being taught here, you are only learning the shadow of what's being taught.


Biology is not cells and corpuscles and respiration and photosynthesis, chloroplasts, excretion, protoplasm, nuclei and DNA (and the grand etc. again), etc.; it is something far beneath (or should I use the word beyond?) words.


The first thing to learn? That all you are doing here is learning about words. When you realize the true focus of your educational pursuits -- words -- then you can put your attention where it belongs.


Now: Is there any good reason to learn about words?


I sit many minutes trying to think through the approximate words I'd use to answer such a question. As I do so, it occurs to me that I probably should drop my discussion of words and return to a description of events. I realize that either of the things I might now do -- go on talking about words or begin again to describe the events I've missed so far -- will only further prove two things: I can't yet do more with words than poison either ideas or reality and that the good reason for learning words depends upon the use to which I might put them. So what can I say?


"In either case, the answer is, yes, there is good reason to learn how better to manipulate words; I just can't (yet) pinpoint that reason with words. It all has to do with the fact that should I want to tell you my reason, I need to become more adept with words so that I can do so adequately," should be my confident reply.


Or I could answer, "No, no reason at all. The goal is merely a mirage. Words can never do what you want to do with them. By trying to increase your abilities with words, you really only deepen your understanding of how weak words are," and thus even decide to quit keeping my diary after nearly 10 years. ("No, no," I hear my self image -- a dead thing, not even real -- cry out, "Don't leave me alone here.")


But words do have great power and that seems to argue for increasing one's understanding of how to use that power . . . doesn't it, in some certain personal sense? . . . just to get along in the world, one must use words if one can (to ward off arguments using deaf and dumb people, I say watch one long enough and he'll form words with his hands in the air), just to get by . . .


Quandary. Confusion. Misunderstanding. Again my world building crumbles a bit -- will it fall again? -- and sections are in such poor repair that I haven't the time or energy to repair them. The bricks from which my world building has been constructed: isn't that really what's disintegrating -- disappearing into thin air somehow . . . no? Then what are "words"? The mortar? The supporting beams? Cmon, fit them into the symbol . . . no? You don't? It'll fall, you'll see . . . like the Tower of Babel again . . . ach! Leave off with words about words for a minute . . .


Suze and I


On Saturday we -- that is, Suze and . . .


Earlier Suze had received an invitation to a party on Saturday night -- that is, the party would take place on . . .


So Suze dressed as a French floozy and I as generalized perversion -- a bearded lady in combat boots and black gloves and purple shower cap and little girl looking dress of blue and pink checks and my face all made up -- and we went to the party on Saturday. Thinking that most of the people there would be Suze's age, we gave no second thoughts to our -- particularly my -- costume(s). When we walked into the door, a shock sparked its way through the room, stopping conversation -- the words spilling out of the mouths of sillily looking older Carbide types dressed in appropriately tasteful costumes whose meanings required much cultural experience to divine: Laurel and Hardy, Grouch and Harpo, Darth Vader, a Sugar Daddy -- the words from the costumes dried up for a moment as everyone checked everyone else's responses to my attire -- is it really a man dressed as a woman? Wonder . . . the beard, fake? Or the boobs?


Re: the power of words, I just ran out of ink after attaching the question mark to "boobs." As a result, half an hour has passed, and I've changed location. In order to continue, I decided, I'll go, a la Gurdjieff, to an eatery -- too bad there are no cafes here -- have some more coffee and continue this collection of useless symbols -- words, that is -- in such a way as to insure that the two-edged sword wielded by the verbal animal is appreciated by, or at least suggested to, the poor helpless readers upon whom I so completely depend for my existence . . . you, that is.


Shortly after the dip in the noise level mentioned above, everything returned, in a sense, to a new moment of normality, in its own terms, of course: people drinking as inconspicuously as possible, people cursing the Onion -- I, too, curse the Union Carbide disease -- people putting across sexual messages with fairly "neutral" words pronounced in the usually suggestive way, people playing parts, pretending, pretensions and apprehensions, what rot! Suze blazes a trail through the wilderness of bad actors, eyes each with a searching glance, checks out the last, then turns, over her shoulder, in that casual way of saying things that means that what is said is not for everyone's ears and that insures everyone will have their ears "on," to me (who else?) at a volume loud enough for every nosey ear to be pricked in a satisfying way, "Buddy Don, you're the only faggot here!"


Again, the party spent a respectful and uncomfortably long few moments, soaking in as many "true" meanings from Suze's words as there were people in the room, silently adjusting, glancing with heads down a the . . . whisper it now . . . the . . . faggot? No, it's too funny, it can't be, right? And still silently shifting feet or positions on the couch or in the corner, coughing quietly until a few of the many billions of words collecting behind the momentary stop gap damming (damning?) of the ever-present spring of words caused by Suze's statement in each curious "social animal's" being . . . until a few drops of the deep, frustrated pool of words spill over the tops of the dam of surprise -- even shock -- and begin again to soak the room, first sprinkling here and there and growing finally into another rapids of symbols, churning up the room and changing -- if ever so slightly -- every person in the room.


I'll tell you about the power of words: I couldn't escape the label Suze accidentally splashed upon my image in everyone's mind when she blurted her thoughtless remark out into the party . . . pinching, merciless jokes and true embarrassment -- even shame -- occupied my evening there . . .


I almost feel I can't go on. Is it better this way? Endlessly refining my technique, telling of my life in greater and greater detail . . . can this be it? Shall I
     spend
          my
               life
                    this way? Or is any other way more "true," more "right," more "good"? I really don't know . . . meanwhile the people at the University here are patient. I've promised them words -- a novel! -- and they nurture me like a rare and precious plant which they hope will produce a certain very prestigious and highly sought after flower, which they can add to their already burgeoning bouquet of mostly stale flowers of research and creation. How can I go on now?


Let me rest my pen now. I must cart my ears and tongue to Existentialism -- we study existentialism here, can you imagine that? -- and participate in a discussion which is meant to enlighten me further.


I would imagine I'll be back, more words will be scrawled following these and this particular madness will go on. I can barely keep it going, but I want to watch it, understand it, also . . .


I think I'll stop by The Tower on the way.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

nuther short note from buddy don


its been a struggle, but i jes gut dun with them thar ee-valu-wayshuns fer the members of my team, them that has to report to me that is, so im hopin tomorrow i kin git back in the swang of thangs n rite more bout my life. thays lots of thangs to innerduce from 1977 n 1978. i long to git back toot.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

apolgies of buddy don


it mite be kindly hard to magine, but i got me this here job over in manhattan n this weeks the one whar we gut to ee-valu-wait them that reports to us, so i gotta do that n cant give this here ritin much time. i apolgize fer it n hope to be back at it befor the weeks over.


thankee fer yer payshunts.

Sunday, October 19, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 70:
a tale of two sisters


as ye know already frum at lease chaptur 19 a lil fambly histry, i had two bruthers n two sisters, witch i talk a lot bout eli n brew, but i dont hardly mentchun roena may n maisie. twernt fer havin nuthin agin em, but fack wuz, i dint have much to do with roena may much ever, n tho i saw lots of maisie, she wuz still too young to be doin much with us. by the fall of 1977 that had all changed. they each had em a big life change.


furst wuz maisie. she was the baby of the fambly, witch she wuz whut daddy called a acksident n mama called a luv child. thang wuz, they wuznt plannin on havin a nuthern but mama cum up pregnunt sumhow n thats how maisie gut started. she wuz born in may of 1960. i wuz eight at the time. main thangs i member wuz how mama lost lots of blood n had to stay in the hospital fer a cuple extra weeks.


the day she cum home, i wuz playin baseball across the street with lil buddy, witch he had the same name as me but i wuz three years older. i wuz pitchin frum about ten feet away n he smacked a baseball right into my nose. i started in to bleedin lack a stuck pig n run home to tell about it but befor i could say nuthin, thar she wuz, maisie lynette, a tiny pink bundle in black ethyls arms, witch we called her black ethyl on a counta mama had a nuther frien name of ethyl only she wuz white ethyl.


maisie wuz everbidys favert frum the instunt she wuz born. since i wuz the oldest, i had to take care of my lil bruthers n sisters bout three times a week, n seem lack maisie always looked up to me. i wrote bout sum of that stuff back in chaptur 38 the short life of becky turner.


innywho, by the summer of 1977 maisie wuz cumin out to the farm purty reglar. she n i had us a closer relayshunship than ever after whut happened with becky turner n bout ever chants she gut, she wood git a ride out to the farm with me or susannah.


she had her a boyfrien for the longest, one of a set of twins, witch his fambly wuz one of the biggest in oak ridge. he wuz a short stocky fella name of kevin karnes n he wurked at big ed's pizza. kevin n maisie went together fer years in hi skool but whenever maisie gut to lackin to smoke theevil weed, they gut to fussin n fitin on a counta kevin dint wonta git hi n maisie felt odd whenever he woodnt git hi with her. so maisie gut to lookin fer folk that lacked to git hi n we had a bunch of em hangin roun the farm.


that summer we gut a long visit frum a cuple of our cousins frum up north in massachusetts n one of em wuz maisies age. he wuz a yankee with a thick bahston acksent name of john paul mize, witch everbidy always called him jp. he had im a car n twuz only natcherul that maisie wood show him roun n seem lack that hole summer whenever ye saw one of em, ye saw tuthern. then summer wuz over n he wuz gone n by then, maisie tole kevin she dint wonta go with him no more.


long bout the end of september, eli give me a call n sed we had to do sumthin bout maisie n i ast whut wuz the matter n he splained how she had dun cum up eggspecktin n he n brew had dun deecided twood half to be tuck care of. i ast did he mean he wonted her to git a aborshun, n he sed twuz thonly anser. i ast whut did maisie wont, but he sed that dint matter on a counta she wuz too young to know whut she wonted. i ast who wuz a'gone pay fer it n he sed the three bruthers. i sed i wood thank bout it n call him back.


in sted, i called up maisie n ast did she wonta go ridin on my motorsickle, witch virgil used it mosly, but he kep it wurkin n i used it now n then. so we tuck us a ride out to melton hill n set ourself down by the lake n burned a number n i ast her did she really wonta have a aborshun. n she cride n we talked n i ast whut did kevin thank. n that caught her by a nuff sprize that she ast whut did kevin half to do with it. n i reminded her how i had dun writ that letter bout how fathers should have rites when it cums to aborshun n all n she sed, mayhap by miss take, how kevin dint have nuthin to do with it.


twuz quite fer a long stretch. we watched the clouds floatin overhead n a boat go by n then i tride to ketch her eye but she woodnt let me. then i put my arm roun her sholder n pulled her a lil closer n sed, twuz jp? n whenever she gut to crine i knew twuz so. she finely gut her breath back n ast me never to tell nobidy n i sed i wood try but thangs lack that tended to wonta be known by folks. but i promissed i woodnt say nuthin.


n that gut us to talkin in a differnt way. she splained how she hadnt never luved nobidy the way she dun jp n fack is, i dont reckon she ever foun innybidy who she luved as well. but she sed thay wuznt no way she could risk havin a baby by her furst cousin n i couldnt go agin that.


so i called eli up n sed i agreed n he sed he dun knew that on a counta his mysticull will n i ast him did he know whut twuz that changed my mine n he sed i musta dun cum to my senses or sumthin since twernt rite fer her to have a baby outside of marrg. n he reminded me bout how mama had reackted to larnin bout a nuther cousin gittin pregnunt outside of marrg, witch that wuz krissy mize. n i sed mayhap he wuz rite.


i ast him whar wuz we a'gone git this thang dun, but he dint know n ast me wuznt thar places over by the universty that did such thangs n i sed i wood check. i ast suze whut she thought bout it n she sed she knew of a place that a frien of hers had used so i tuck the number n give em a call. they sed it could be dun fer $175, so i set up a pointment fer doin it.


i called maisie n tole her i had found a place, witch twuz planned parnthood over near the ut campus, n she sed she owed me n i sed she dint. then i ast eli did he half the money, but he had dun spent his munthly check , witch that wood be octobers check n twernt but the 4th day of the munth, but he sed he had found a grate deal on sum of theevil weed. so i called brew n ast did he have the money, but he sed he was a lil short on a counta havin to repair his car, witch he had im this datsun sports car that had to be repaired bout ever time he gut paid.


i wuznt about to ast susannah fer no hep with nuthin that tuck money, so i went over to ut n ast whuther i wuz a'gone git a check fer my student loan n i splained how i had a verr importunt paymint to make n they sed dint make no nevermind whut i had to make. ifn twuz time fer the check, then i wood git it, n ifn twernt, i woodnt. so i ast when wood it be time fer the check, n the lady looked into her files n sed sumthin lack 'whaddya know? you have one ready.' n twuz fer $433 on a counta the hole loan fer the year wuz $1,300 broke down into three parts, one per quarter.


so susannah n i tuck maisie over to the planned parnthood n went in with her n waited till twuz over. n then we tuck her out to the farm n called mama to tell her she wood be stayin overnite with us n twuz a normal thang fer her to do by then n fack is, she stayed fer sevrul nites till she wuz feelin more lack herself.


i wuz a lil mad at my bruthers fer not heppin with the money, speshly since it seemed to me lack they had more disposbull incum than i did, but a funny thang happened. i cum home one day n found a five dollar bill with a note round it in my sock drawer. i wuz sprized, but i opened that note n read it. twuz from kevin. he sed he wonted to apologize fer lettin me take care of sumthin he shoulda dun tuck care of, but ifn i wood be payshunt, he wood pay ever penny plus ten percent. n he sed i wuznt to mentchun nuthin bout this to maisie on a counta he dint wont her to thank he wuz trine to git her back or innerfear with her life in innyway.


i wonted to tell him twernt his to pay, but i couldnt tell who wuz the father, so the next chants i gut, i went over to big eds n found him n tole him he dint half to pay no ten percent. he thanked me fer that n ast did i promiss i woodnt tell maisie bout it, n i give him my wurd. n fer the rest of that quarter, i wood find innywhar frum $5 to $20 with a note that sed how much he had dun paid n how much more he had to pay.


n thangs wuz fine till one day maisie cum over n saw one of them notes n ast wuznt that kevin ritin? n she wuz reachin to pick it up, but i grabbed it n sed no, twuz a luv note frum susannah.


that made her git real quite, so i ast whut wuz rong, n she sed she wished thar wuz sumbidy that luved her lack that n then she wuz crine. n i sed thar wuz sumbidy that luved her lack that, witch i mint twuz kevin karnes, but she dint unnerstan n jes sed, taint the same, taint the same.


i wonted to tell her who twuz, but i had dun give my wurd to kevin, so i jes sed she had her fambly, n that made her cry all the more n she sed why did she half to fall in luv with a cousin? i dint have no anser to that n i wuz jes glad it hadnt happened to me.


i wonted to tell her that the one that luved her wernt no cousin, but i couldnt. in sted, i kep my wurd to kevin. n fer a while, i wuz glad i dun it n figgered twuz the rite thang.


but over the long haul, twuz one of the thangs i mos regretted doin in my hole life.


thangs wuz differnt fer my other sister, roena may. she wuz born whenever i wuz five years old. i member her cumin home with mama n how i wuz jes big a nuff to carry her roun now n then ifn i gut the chants. the two of us wuz a lot alike in sum ways. we both had brown eyes lack mama, witch eli had blue n brew n maise had hazel or green dependin on the lite n whut they wuz a'wearin. n lack me roena may wuz a lergick to mos everthang. n wurse wuz how bofus wuz easy criers n that made us natcherul bait fer daddy.


when we wuz havin dinner, daddy wood eethur use the time to quiz us all on importunt thangs lack whut happent in 1066 n why wuz it the mos importunt thang ever or whut wuz the capitull of montana or whar wuz the azores n so on, or he n mama wood fiuss n fite, witch they wuz masters of sar chasm n irony n the hole range of tools ye kin use in a curteeus fuss n fite.


n that mint twuz easy fer daddy to make sumbidy cry on a counta even tho he wuz way more edge-ucated than mama wuz, witch she only made it to the 8th grade n he had his docters of jurisprudents frum ut law skool, seem lack she wuz his equal in a fuss n fite, n that mint he had to turn on sumbidy else, witch twood be me ifn i fell fer it but more lackly roena may on a counta it seemed lack he hated her frum the momint he larnt she wuz a gurl.


a hole lot of them fuss n fites twixt mama n daddy wuz over how he treated roena may. sumtimes he wood try to make me cry furst n that wurked bout ever thurd try, but ifn he couldnt, he wood turn on roena may. fer the most part, tho, he wood jes go fer roena may furst thang, n purty soon he wood be makin smart remarks bout how the water wurks wuz a'gittin on his nerves n that wood git her to cryin more so he wood ast sumthin lack did the water main brake? n corse mama wood take up fer roena may n sumtimes the boys wood cum into it on daddys side on a counta we looked up to him the way we dun.


i aint sayin daddy wuz a fair man or that he warnt cruel bout sum thangs, but dint matter to eli, brew n me. we wonted to be lack him till we gut to be teenagers when we wonted to be innythang else. by then, tho, we had dun follerd after his way of pickin on roena may. we wood call her names n play tricks on her n cut her down ever chants we gut. n ifn we could make her cry, we wood laff n pile on. i aint proud of it, but tiz true n tiz one of them awful truths thats better to cunfess than lie bout.


but roena may wuz made out of strong stuff. i admit she had sum trubles with it whenever she wuz lil. she had her a bald spot on her hed on a counta she wood pull out her hairs n wrap em round her thumb n suck on em till she had swallerd em n then she wood git more till thar warnt hardly no more to git. n we wood call her names lack baldy n spot, witch nuthin wood hurt her wursen us a callin her lack she wuz a dog, 'here spot! cum on gurl!.' n we wood have sum dog food thar in a bag n be a shakin it.


n speakin of food, she wuz so hongry fer a lil luv n tenchun that whenever mama wood serve liver, peas or lima beans, we wood git her to eat ourn in eggschange fer half our dessert, ifn thar wuz dessert. ifn thar warnt, we wood offer other thangs. n whuts the verr wurse bout that is how all the kids wuz skinny as rales ceptn fer her n she had to fite fat all her life n to this day she eats when thangs hurts too much.


oh, roena may, ifn only i could take back whut i dun to ye!


but life is a one-way street n ye cant go back n ye cant make up fer nuthin, so ye gut to tell the truth bout it bes ye kin n hope them thats readin mite avoid makin the same miss take. not that innybidy ever larned much of innythang by readin or bein tole. seem lack they half to go out n make thar own miss takes to find out how awful they are. lease i did.


innywho, roena may grew up smart n dun good in skool n when the time cum, she went off to cookevull to skool at tennessee tech. n thar wuz started one of mama n daddys gratest fuss n fites of all time.


why? on a counta daddy had dun tole all of us kids that ifn we wuz thankin bout goin to collidge we wood half to pay fer it our ownself on a counta mama kept daddy payment poor, witch that means she had credit cards n lacked to use em fer thangs lack skool cloze n more cloze fer her ownself than she could git to fit in a closet. n i had to pay my own way n daddy never sed a wurd bout heppin n i never speckted him to.


but mama went behind daddys back n signed a piece of paper promissin that all of roena mays skool eggspentses wood be paid fer by them on time with intrest. they fought over thatn fer years n truth is she had forged his signatchur so he had sum ground to stand on, but fack wuz also that roena may cum thru the furst two years of skool with grate grades n met her husbin, witch he wuz a drummer in a rock n roll band n majorin in biology. he had im a huge mustache n wuz a verr smart guy name of jim coates.


everbidy lacked him n wuz rite proud of roena may fer makin such a good match. she wuz at her mos beeyootiful on the day they gut marrd. she had lost all her wate almost as soon as she gut out of the house, witch that tells ye a lot bout how thangs wuz fer her. she looked lack a model fer a weddin gown cumpny, n whenever they wuz fixin to go away on thar honeymoon, she put on a green dress n a lil hat with a veil on it n twuz lack a beeyooty queen from the 1920s.


n ever after that, dint matter bout how much daddy carrd on bout how he wuz ronged by whut mama dun, all we could thank bout wuz how roena may had dun eggscaped to a better place. n jim coates went on to git his docterate n be a biology perfesser at lincoln memorial uninversity n ye never met a better man in yer life.


they lived out in the cuntry n had beagles n cats n a garden. n in the winter of 1977 we gut the news she wuz specktin a chile, witch that wood be lillian mize coates who wuz born on october 5, 1977.


n even then, seems lack roena may couldnt ketch a brake. whenever she gut close to her time, the docters tole her twood half to be a ceasarian seckshun, n how she cride to here it on a counta it mint all her babies wood half to be delivered the same way. but she dried her tears befor she gut reddy to go to the hospital n lillian wuz born with a hed of black hair n calmly suckin on her thumb, witch that made mama say she wuz the spittin image of me whenever i wuz born.


me n daddy n maisie drove up to visit the nex day n thar wuz roena may, direcktin traffic n in charge. she tole daddy whar to go to see his furst grandchild n she started to callin him granddaddy the instunt he walked in n yew could see he dint much lack that on a counta he wuz only 55 years old at the time. so he ast could she jes call him gran n bless her hart, thats jes whut she dun n ever after that, mos everbidy in the fambly called him gran.


corse mama wuz not a'gone be called no grandmother or grandie or grandmama or innythang grand atall. she insisted they call her nana n they did, witch eli ast me had she ever read that book by zola n i sed i reckond she hadnt or else she wooda tuck a differnt name. but it stuck to her n folks calls her that even today.


on the drive home, we gut into a talk bout whuther ye wuz born with yer hole persunalty set n daddy tole agin how he bleeved ye wuz. he splained fer instunts how maisie wuz born happy n wuz happy to that day. corse time wood tell a differnt tale. n roena may wuz born sickly but stoic n never cumplained, n thatn held up purty good. n brew wuz born contented n eli wuz born hyperactiv n scairt of everthang n i wuz born hyperactive n curious bout everthang. n he sed dint matter how he n mama had dun tride to train us on how to do, we wuz set frum birth.


so we ast whut he figgered bout lillian n he sed mama reckoned she wood be a model, n truth to tell, lillian turnt out to be purty a nuff, but that wernt whut she wonted. n daddy made a perdickshun that wuz a goodn. he sed she wood be a artist on a counta how she looked at him the furst time he held her. n we ast how could he tell frum that, n he sed that a artist is a victim of thar eyes, n hers wuz the eyes of a artist. how rite he wuz.


ye could see he wuz pleased with his new granddaughter, n i wundered if twere a nuff fer him to be pleased with roena may. so i ast wuz he proud of her but whenever i did, i looked at maisie in the back seat. she wuz sittin on her hands n tears wuz streamin down her face n i wisht i hadnt ast that questchun.


but it dint matter. befor daddy could say a thang, sumthin cum on the radio bout the tennessee-georgia tech game n he never ansered.

Friday, October 17, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 71:
maisie


maisie was the baby of the fambly, witch she wuz whut daddy called a acksident n mama called a luv child. thang wuz, they wuznt plannin on havin a nuthern but mama cum up pregnunt sumhow n thats how maisie gut started. she wuz born in may of 1960. i wuz eight at the time. main thangs i member wuz how mama lost lots of blood n had to stay in the hospital fer a cuple extra weeks.


the day she cum home, i wuz playin baseball across the street with lil buddy, witch he had the same name as me but i wuz three years older. i wuz pitchin frum about ten feet away n he smacked a baseball right into my nose. i started in to bleedin lack a stuck pig n run home to tell about it but befor i could say nuthin, thar she wuz, maisie lynette, a tiny bundle in black ethyls arms, witch we called her black ethyl on a counta mama had a nuther frien name of ethyl only she wuz white ethyl.


maisie wuz everbidys favert frum the instunt she wuz born. since i wuz the oldest, i had to take care of my lil bruthers n sisters bout three times a week, n seem lack maisie always looked up to me. i wrote bout sum of that stuff back in chaptur 38 the short life of becky turner.


innywho, by the summer of 1977 maisie wuz cumin out to the farm purty reglar. she n i had us a closer relayshunship than ever after whut happened with becky turner n bout ever chants she gut, she wood git a ride out to the farm with me or susannah.


she had her a boyfrien for the longest, one of a set of twins, witch his fambly wuz one of the biggest in oak ridge. he wuz a short stocky fella name of kevin karnes n he wurked at big ed's pizza. they went together fer years in hi skool but whenever maisie gut to lackin to smoke theevil weed, they gut to fussin n fitin on a counta kevin dint wonta git hi n maisie felt odd whenever he woodnt git hi with her. so maisie gut to lookin fer folk that lacked to git hi n we had a bunch of em hangin roun the farm.


that summer we gut a long visit frum a cuple of our cousins frum up north in massachusetts n one of em wuz maisies age. he wuz a red hed name of john paul mize, witch everbidy always called him jp. he had im a car n twuz only natcherul that maisie wood show him roun n seem lack that hole summer whenever ye saw one of em, ye saw tuthern. then summer wuz over n he wuz gone n by then, maisie tole kevin she dint wonta go with him no more.


long bout the end of september, eli give me a call n sed we had to do sumthin bout maisie n i ast whut wuz the matter n he splained how she had dun cum up eggspecktin n he n brew had dun deecided twood half to be tuck care of. i ast did he mean he wonted her to git a aborshun, n he sed twuz thonly anser. i ast whut did maisie wont, but he sed that dint matter on a counta she wuz too young to know whut she wonted. i ast who wuz a'gone pay fer it n he sed the three bruthers. i sed i wood thank bout it n call him back.


in sted, i called up maisie n ast did she wonta go ridin on my motorsickle, witch virgil used it mosly, but he kep it wurkin n i used it now n then. so we tuck us a ride out to melton hill n set ourself down by the lake n burned a number n i ast her did she really wonta have a aborshun. n she cride n we talked n i ast whut did kevin thank. n that caught her by a nuff sprize that she ast whut did kevin half to do with it. n she reminded her how i had dun writ that letter bout how fathers should have rites when it cums to aborshun n all n she sed, mayhap by miss take, how kevin dint have nuthin to do with it.


twuz quite fer a long stretch. we watched the clouds floatin overhead n a boat go by n then i tride to ketch her eye but she woodnt let me. then i put my arm roun her sholder n pulled her a lil closer n sed, twuz pj? n whenever she gut to crine i knew twuz so. she finely gut her breath back n ast me never to tell nobidy n i sed i wood try but thangs lack that tended to wonta be known by folks. but i promissed i woodnt say nuthin.


n that gut us to talkin in a differnt way. she splained how she hadnt never luved nobidy the way she dun pj n fack is, i dont reckon she ever foun innybidy who she luved as well. but she sed thay wuznt no way she could risk havin a baby by her furst cousin n i couldnt go agin that.


so i called eli up n sed i agreed n he sed he dun knew that on a counta his mysticull will n i ast him did he know whut twuz that changed my mine n he sed i musta dun cum to my senses or sumthin since twernt rite fer her to have a baby outside of marrg. n he reminded me bout how mama had reackted to larnin bout a nuther cousin gittin pregnunt outside of marrg, witch that wuz krissy mize. n i sed mayhap he wuz rite.


i ast him whar wuz we a'gone git this thang dun, but he dint know n ast me wuznt thar places over by the universty that did such thangs n i sed i wood check. i ast suze whut she thought bout it n she sed she knew of a place that a frien of her had used so i tuck the number n give em a call. they sed it could be dun fer $175, so i set up a pointment fer doin it.


i called maisie n tole her i had found a place, witch twuz planned parnthood over near the ut campus, n she sed she owed me n i sed she dint. then i ast eli did he half the money, but he had dun spent his munthly check , witch that wood be octobers check n twernt but the 4th day of the munth, but he sed he had found a grate deal on sum of theevil weed. so i called brew n ast did he have the money, but he sed he was a lil short on a counta havin to repair his car, witch he had im this datsun sports car that had to be repaired bout ever time he gut paid.


i wuznt about to ast susannah fer no hep with nuthin that tuck money, so i went over to ut n ast whuther i wuz a'gone git a check fer my student loan n i splained how i had a verr importunt paymint to make n they sed dint make no nevermind whut i had. ifn twuz time fer the check, then i wood git it, n ifn twernt, i woodnt. so i ast when wood it be time fer the check, n the lady looked into her files n sed sumthin lack 'whaddya know? you have one ready.' n twuz fer $433 on a counta the hole loan fer the year wuz $1,300 broke down into three parts, one per quarter.


so susannah n i tuck maisie over to the planned parnthood n went in with her n waited till twuz over. n then we tuck her out to the farm n called mama to tell her she wood be stayin overnite with us n twuz a normal thang fer her to do by then n fack is, she stayed fer sevrul nites till she wuz feelin more lack herself.


i wuz a lil mad at my bruthers fer not heppin with the money, speshly since it seemed to me lack they had more disposbull incum than i did, but a funny thang happened. i cum home one day n found a five dollar bill with a note round it in my sock drawer. i wuz sprized, but i opened that note n read it. twuz from kevin. he sed he wonted to apologize fer lettin me take care of sumthin he shoulda dun tuck care of, but ifn i wood be payshunt, he wood pay ever penny plus ten percent. n he sed i wuznt to mentchun nuthin bout this to maisie on a counta he dint wont her to thank he wuz trine to git her back or innerfear with her life in innyway.


i wonted to tell him twernt his to pay, but i couldnt tell who wuz the father, so the next chants i dut, i went over to big eds n found him n tole him he dint half to pay no ten percent. he thanked me fer that n ast did i promiss i woodnt tell maisie bout it, n i give him my wurd. n fer the rest of that quarter, i wood find innywhar frum $5 to $20 with a note that sed how much he had dun paid n how much more he had to pay.


n thangs wuz fine till one day maisie cum over n saw one of them notes n ast wuznt that kevin ritin? n she wuz reachin to pick it up, but i grabbed it n sed no, twuz a luv note frum susannah.


that made her git real quite, so i ast whut wuz rong, n she sed she wished thar wuz sumbidy that luved her lack that n then she wuz crine. n i sed thar wuz sumbidy that luved her lack that, witch i mint twuz kevin karnes, but she dint unnerstan n jes sed, taint the same, taint the same.


i wonted to tell her who twuz, but i had dun give my wurd to kevin, so i jes sed she had her fambly, n that made her cry all the more n she sed why did she half to fall in luv with a cousin? i dint have no anser to that n i wuz jes glad it hadnt happened to me.


i wonted to tell her that the one that luved her wernt no cousin, but i couldnt. in sted, i kep my wurd to kevin. n fer a while, i wuz glad i dun it n figgered twuz the rite thang.


but befor too long, twuz one of the thangs i mos regretted doin in my hole life.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 70:
roena may


my sister roena may wuz born whenever i wuz five years old. i member her cumin home with mama n how i wuz jes big a nuff to carry her roun now n then ifn i gut the chants. the two of us wuz a lot alike in sum ways. we both had brown eyes lack mama, witch eli had blue n brew n maise had hazel or green dependin on the lite n whut they wuz a'wearin. n lack me she wuz a lergick to mos everthang. n wurse wuz how bofus wuz easy criers n that made us natcherul bait fer daddy.


when we wuz havin dinner, daddy wood eethur use the time to quiz us all on importunt thangs lack whut happent in 1066 n why twuz the mos importunt thang ever or whut wuz the capitull of montana or whar wuz the azores n so on, or he n mama wood fite, witch they wuz masters of sar chasm n irony n the hole range of tools ye kin use in a fuss n fite.


n that mint twuz easy fer daddy to make sumbidy cry on a counta even tho he wuz way more edge-ucated than mama wuz, witch she only made it to the 8th grade n he had his docters of jurisprudents frum ut law skool, seem lack she wuz his equal in a fuss n fite, n that mint he had to turn on sumbidy else, witch twood be me ifn i fell fer it but more lackly roena may on a counta it seemed lack he hated her frum the momint he larnt she wuz a gurl.


a hole lot of them fuss n fites twixt mama n daddy wuz over how he treated roena may. sumtimes he wood try to make me cry furst n that wurked bout ever thurd try, but ifn he couldnt, he wood turn on roena may. fer the most part, tho, he wood jes go fer roena may furst thang, n purty soon he wood be makin smart remarks bout how the water wurks wuz a'gittin on his nerves n that wood git her to cryin more so he wood ast sumthin lack did the water main brake? n corse mama wood take up fer roena may n sumtimes the boys wood cum into it on daddys side on a counta we looked up to him the way we dun.


i aint sayin daddy wuz a fair man or that he warnt cruel bout sum thangs, but dint matter to eli, brew n me. we wonted to be lack him till we gut to be teenagers when we wonted to be innythang else. by then, tho, we had dun follwerd after his way of pickin on roena may. we wood call her names n play tricks on her n cut her down ever chants we gut. n ifn we could make her cry, we wood laff n pile on. i aint proud of it, but tiz true n tiz one of them awful truths thats better to cunfess than lie bout.


but roene may wuz made out of strong stuff. i admit she had sum trubles with it whenever she wuz lil. she had her a bald spot on her hed on a counta she wood pull out her hairs n wrap em round her thumb n suck on em till she had swallerd em n then she wood git more till thar warnt hardly no more to git. n we wood call her names lack baldy n spot, witch nuthin wood hurt her wursen us a callin her lack she wuz a dog, 'here spot! cum on gurl! we gut ye sum food.' n we wood have sum dog food thar in a bag n be a shakin it.


n speakin of food, she wuz so hongry fer a lil luv n tenchun that whenever mama wood serve liver, peas or lima beans, we wood git her to eat ourn in eggschange fer half our dessert, ifn thar wuz dessert. ifn thar warnt, we wood offer other thangs. n whuts the verr wurse bout that is how all the kids wuz skinny as rale ceptn fer her n she had to fite fat all her life n to this day she eats when thangs hurts too much.


oh, roena may, ifn only i could take back whut i dun to ye!


but life is a one-way street n ye cant go back n ye cant make up fer nuthin, so ye gut to tell the truth bout it bes ye kin n hope them thats readin mite avoid makin the same bad miss take. not that innybidy ever larned much of innythang by readin or bein tole. seem lack they half to go out n make thar own miss takes to find out how awful they are.


innywho, roena may grew up smart n dun good in skool n when the time cum, she went off to cookevull to skool at tennessee tech. n thar wuz started one of mama n daddys gratest fuss n fites of all time.


why? on a counta daddy had dun tole all of us kids that ifn we wuz thankin bout goin to collidge we wood half to pay fer it our ownself on a counta mama kept daddy payment poor, witch that means she had credit cards n lacked to use em fer thangs lack skool cloze n more cloze fer her ownself than she could git to fit in a closet. n i had to pay my own way n daddy never sed a wurd bout heppin n i never speckted him to.


but mama went behind daddys back n signed a piece of paper promissin that all of roena mays skool eggspentses wood be paid fer by them on time with intrest. they fought over thatn fer years n truth is she had forged his signatchur so he had sum ground to stand on, but fack wuz also that roena may cum thru the furst two years of skool with grate grades n met her husbin, witch he wuz a drummer in a rock n roll band. he had im a huge mustache n wuz a verr smart guy name of jim coates who wuz a'studyin biology.


everbidy lacked him n wuz rite proud of roena may fer makin such a good match. she wuz at her mos beeyootiful on the day the gut marrd. she had lost all her wate almost as soon as she gut out of the house, witch that tells ye a lot bout how thangs wuz fer her. she looked lack a model fer a weddin gown cumpny, n whenever they wuz fixin to go away on thar honeymoon, she put on a green dress n a lil hat with a veil on it n twuz lack a beeyooty queen from the 1920s.


n ever after that, dint matter bout how much daddy carrd on bout how he wuz ronged by whut mama dun, all we could thank bout wuz how roena may had dun eggscaped to a better place. n jim coates went on to git his docterate n be a biology perfesser at lincoln memorial uninversity n ye never met a better man in yer life.


they lived out in the cuntry n had beagles n cats n a garden. n in the winter of 1977 we gut the news she wuz specktin a chile, witch that wood be lillian mize coates who wuz born on october 5, 1977.


n even then, seems lack roena may couldnt ketch a brake. whenever she gut close to her time, the docters tole her twood half to be a ceasarian seckshun, n how she cride to here it on a counta it mint all her babies wood half to be delivered the same way. but she dried her tears befor she gut reddy to go to the hospital n lillian wuz born with a hed of black hair n calmly suckin on her thumb, witch that made mama say she wuz the spittin image of me whenever i wuz born.


me n daddy n maisie drove up to visit the nex day n thar wuz roena may, direcktin traffic n in charge. she tole daddy whar to go to see his furst grandchild n she started to callin him granddaddy the instunt he walked in n yew could see he dint much lack that on a counta he wuz only 55 years old at the time. so he ast could she jes call him gran n bless her hart, thats jes whut she dun n ever after that, mos everbidy in the fambly called him gran.


corse mama wuz not a'gone be called no grandmother or grandie or grandmama or innythang grand atall. she insisted they call her nana n they did, witch eli ast me had she ever read that book by zola n i sed i reckond she hadnt or else she wooda tuck a differnt name. but it stuck to her n folks calls her that even today.


on the drive home, we gut into a talk bout whuther ye wuz born with yer hole persunalty set n daddy tole agin how he bleeved twuz. he splained fer instunts how maisie wuz born happy n wuz happy to that day. corse time wood tell a differnt tale. n roena may wuz born sickly but stoic n never cumplained, n thatn held up purty good. n brew wuz born contented n eli wuz born hyperactiv n scairt of everthang n i wuz born hyperactive n curious bout everthang. n he sed dint matter how he n mama had dun tride to train us on how to do, we wuz set frum birth.


so we ast whut he figgered bout lillian n he sed mama reckoned she wood be a model, n she turnt out to be purty a nuff, but that wernt whut she wonted. n daddy made a perdickshun that wuz a goodn. he sed she wood be a artist on a counta how she looked at him the furst time he held her. n we ast how could he tell frum that, n he sed that a artist is a vitim of his eyes, n hers wuz the eyes of a artist. how rite he wuz.


n roena? he sed she wuz as tuff as they git. so maisie ast wuz he proud of her but befor he could anser sumthin cum on the radio bout the tennessee-georgia tech game n he never ansered.

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 69:
quittin carbide


ye mite not member sum of the thangs a'goin on in 1977. jimmy carter wuz presdent n one of the best thangs he dun wuz to pardon the viet nam draft evaders. by then thay wuznt too many folks who wonted to claim we wuz rite in that war n it gut to whar ye could see that mayhap resistin wuz the rite thang to do. twernt rite to treat the vets who did serve so bad, but thats sumthin else agin. the federal debt wuz up to $706.4 billyuns, unemployment wuz hi as a kite at 7.1% n the median incum wuz a lil over $13,500. twuz the year of roots n star wars n saturday nite fever n disco. n of corse, twuz the year elvis died. twuz a lucky thang my stereo n records had burnt in the fire n all i had left wuz beethoven.


twuz also the year i finely quit wurkin at union carbide. twuz a puzzle to many of my friens why i wood give up such a good job, but thang wuz, i wonted to make sumthin better out of myself. i could see folks that had spent thar lives at carbide n tho they had big houses down by the lake n late model cars n cuntry club memberships n all, it dint seem lack they had much fun. the main thang they seemed to go fer were them parties lack the ones i rote bout in chaptur 22 darlene gits on out at the plant. i couldnt see no way i wood git any closer to findin whutever twuz i wuz a'lookin fer thataway.


besides, i wonted to go to skool full time n i had purty much wurked thangs out fer that. whenever we bought the farm, i had put down the mos cash n once i had paid off my k-25 credit union loan, i dint half to make payments. my car wuz paid fer n virgil could fix mos innythang. i had a lil money squirrled away n i wuz able to borry a bit frum ut n then sumbidy give me a skolarship n twernt lack i wuz rich, but i wuz payin my bills n livin cheap.


quittin that job tuck a year of plannin n gittin myself reddy. i wuz afraid of givin up such a cushy spot n even tho i dint half to wurk all that hard, i dint feel lack i wuz larnin nuthin nor growin nor improvin. n i wuz mad that they dint wonta pay fer flossofy but aprooved payment fer deductive n inductive logick, witch they wuz flossofy classes, n woodnt pay fer western civ, witch twuz a core requirement. i gut into the collidge skolars program n figgered that mite fix thangs, but i dint wait to find out. i picked a date, september 9, 1977, witch i picked september on a counta it wuz the munth of changes fer me, n rote a letter lettin em know twood be my last day on the job.


the day finely cum n i went thru the hole ritchul. furst they tuck me aside n splained how i wuznt to mentchun nuthin bout the secret stuff i had larnt thar, witch i couldnt have named three secrets ifn i had to. then they splained how ifn i wuz to cum up with a inventchun n git a patent fer innythang having to do with uranium enrichment or creashun of barrier or innythang lack that, then twood be the property of union carbide. then they give me a 4-hour fisicull examinayshun whar i larnt that i weighed 121 lbs, witch i had cum in weighin 122 lbs. since i measure rite at six feet tall, ye kin figger i wuz a lil on the skinny side. my hearing wuz good, my vision 20-20 n my only problem seemed to be the occasional pain in my leg frum the motorsickle acksident n a lil asthma when i gut round 'triggers' n a sinus infeckshun that had lasted fer years but only flared up now n then.


once i had dun all of that, i wuz free. as it happened, i had gut a ride to wurk with susannah on a counta i had loaned my car to eli so he could go over to the vee a in knoxvull n see his shrank n git his medicine. that wuz fine by me on a counta i lacked the idea of walkin home frum thar, even tho twuz quite a ways frum oak ridge n after that i had to git to clinton. but twuz a beeyootiful day with lots of sun n i wuz both happy n sad.


as ye mite recolleck frum chaptur 35 the $15 hed shranker i had dun tride to kill myself three years before i quit carbide. the tree i marked with that event wuz on the rode to k-25, so i made a point of walkin on the left hand side of the rode till i gut to that tree. thar i sat n i reckon i mite have been a'prayin or meditatin or whutever. but as i touched the barkless scar on that tree, i could member how twuz a new start fer me n i had dun gut a bonus life n bein as how twuz jes a bonus fer free, dint matter how good twuz since twuz much better than nuthin. n i made a vow that i wood try to be a better person n try to make myself wurthy of knowin whutever truth twuz i wuz chasin after so hard.


part of that wuz all mixed up in wontin to make myself a riter of novels. i had tole folks how i wuz a riter, n i rote lots of papers n diary entries n such. n corse thay wuz them songs i rote n kep on a ritin to this day, tho they never seemed lack wurk but only jes fell out of the sky into my fangers n voice, so i dint give myself no credit fer em. n i sold the ccasional term paper or essay or even jes rote em or correckted em fer free. n i had a few pomes, but they wernt nuthin next to them ones eli wuz ritin. n thang wuz, whenever folks wood talk bout how i wuz a riter, i wood feel a lil shamed on a counta mos of my bein a riter of novels wernt nuthin but talk bout how i wonted to be a riter of novels.


so whenever i gut into the collidge skolars program n gut docter sheffield fer my tutor, i tole him my senyer projeck wood be a novel n wood have lots of thangs bout flossofy n histry n such in it, n he tole me i should jes make it as good as that paper i rote fer his western civ class name of 'the witness: a credo,' witch i rote bout thatn back in chaptur 65 a dream cum true.


i tole him i wonted it to be better on a counta i wuz tryin to make myself into a better man, n i figgered i had grate thangs to do. i figgered i wood be famus n mayhap wood be able to live offn my ritin. so he ast me why wuz i takin classes n such ifn i wuz wontin to be a riter. why dint i jes rite?


twuz a good questchun. ifn i had the money to go to skool, i shore nuff had the money to stay home n rite. as i wuz sittin by my tree thar on the rode away from carbide, that conversayshun cum back to me, n i wuz a lil ashamed. i touched that bare wound on the tree as if twood give me the courage or strangth or whutever twuz that i needed to quote jes rite unquote.


but thang wuz, i dint thank i could git myself to rite nuthin lessn thay wuz sumbidy waitin to grade it.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 68:
our naybor the preechur


in chess thays this concept called zugzwang, witch that means whenever its yer turn, ye gut to move, even ifn thay aint no good moves left to be made.  tiz a sad moment in a chess game whenever ye look at all the possibull moves n see that ever one of em puts ye into wurser problems n ye wish ye had the optshun of not movin atall.


thays been many a time in life when i wished ye had the same optshun n thang bout life is that longs ye gut it, yer in the zugzwang situwayshun. ye gut to do sumthin with yer time. folks cumplains that they aint gut a nuff time, but fack is, most folks dont hardly know whut to do with the time they gut. thats why thays a sayin that goes sumthin lack this: ifn ye wont sumthin dun fast, give it to a busy person.


after i had dun figgered that seekin out futher sensayshuns frum the outside worl wuznt lackly to lead to findin truth, speshly ifn i wuznt reddy to handle it, i gut to wonderin hard on the topic of whut yer spozed to do with yer life n lack all folks that thanks much bout that problem, ye cum rite away to the fack that ye gut to die sooner or later, n seems lack gittin reddy fer that oughta be the main thang folks is a'trine to do. n thays plenty that does jes that, yer preachers n such, but thays plenty more that druther not thank bout morbid depressin topics lack the fack yer gonna die sumday.


while i wuz ponderin all this, me n eli gut to readin bout august strindberg n sum of his idees bout how he gut to bleevin that commun everday events in his life wuz symbolical for deeper n more importunt truths. he figgered thay wuz a message frum god in everthang that happened. the way me n eli figgered it, that mint everbidys life wuz always puttin lessuns in frunt of everbidy n ifn ye gut the point of the lessun, ye gut to move on to a new'n, n ifn ye dint, ye wuz more or less sentenced to a life of repetishun.


i could see how this mite be true, tho the mechanism a runnin it wood half to be more cumplex than life itself on a counta how could ye set it up whar everbidys gittin the lessun they need n life is still a'goin on n folks dont bump into each other with thar lessuns n all. it gut me rite back to the predestinayshun of them presbyteryuns on a counta how whoever wuz settin up the lessuns had to know who wood complete which lessun when n all.


i tride puttin these idees together, but twuz a real mystry howt could wurk. ye gut to ack on a counta bein alive. ifn ye wont to find the truth, ye gut to prepare yerself to be able to hold it or unnerstan it n all. n finely, everthang ye eggsperients in life is spozed to hep ye larn whutever tiz yer here to larn.


so whut wuz ye spozed to do? watch life n see kin ye larn whut yer spozed to do? that wood mean ye had the optshun of not takin a move while ye studied fer whut ye should do. n ifn ye werent doin much of nuthin, how wuz ye gittin reddy to unnerstan or know inny truth? n ifn ye gut that zugzwang on ye fer life, witch ye gut it long as yer alive, then ye cant sit back n study but ye gut to ack n larn n prepar yerself all at the same time, n fack is, it dont seem hardly possibull.


i spent lots of my time puzzlin over how could these three concepts fit together, n thang wuz, i gut to whar i wundered ifn i warnt larnin nuthin on a counta it seemed lack i wuz jes thankin the same ole thoughts overn over agin.


so i deecided i wood make a change in my life. i dun mentchuned how i wonted to have su move in with me while her house wuz a'bein built, but i dont thank i told how mj wuz upset by it n dint wonta live on the land with suze.


it dint seem fair to me that folks on the land wood wonta tell me who i could live with, but tuther half of thatn wuz that i wuz gittin sick of trine to fit into the mold suze had fer me. she tole me one time that she had dun turnt away many a prospectiv lover or husbin on a counta this flaw or thatn, n everbidy could tell ye i wuz full of flaws n faults n bad behaveyer. i gut to ponderin on that till i had my case made n wuz shore i could pull it off. at the verr lease, i wood make my points n quite feelin lack i wuz havin to live up to her idee of me. she wood half to take me lack i wuz.


i picked out a day to tell her all that. twuz august 29, 1977, witch i member on a counta sum strange thangs that happened n made me wunder bout life givin lessuns n all. but mainly i member it fer the fack that suze n me figgered we had got together on august 28 of 1976. i even waited a day to tell her sos it woodnt be so hard, tho twuz the wurk of a callus basturd in eethur case.


innywho, the day i plannedon tell her wuz a mundy. she called n sed she wuz plannin on cumin by the farm that evenin, so i figgered we could take a lil walk in the woods n talk thangs out n then go our sepert ways.


when i gut home mundy evenin, i found brew sittin in the livin room with a joint he had jes rolled, so we smoked it. a lil later, i looked out the kitchen window n saw a well-dressed young man wonderin round on the driveway tween the big house n the green house. i hadnt never seen him befor, n twuz a puzzle how he dint knock on no doors or jes holler out knock knock n cum in. so i went out to see whut did he wont.


turnt out he wuz the preechur frum the church next door. we had dun had our frickshun with the church. they cut down a huge oak tree, a'droppin it rite on our land without so much as a yankee doodle. they dint ast could they doot, n wurst of all wuz how they dint warn us bout it. we could jes magine ifn jill n jason wuz down thar a'playin whenever twuz dun.


n sum of the church members had cumplained to us bout the parties we wuz havin, n they had em a point bout one of em whar we had too many folks n three kegs of beer. i member wakin up bout 4 am in the frunt lawn needin to vomit. i dun it rite thar n barly missed virgil, witch he wuz a'sleepin rite thar too n dint wake up once durin the hole thang. next mornin, i gut up n found thay wuz folks lying drunk or hungover all over the yard n ye could see how good church-goin folks mite not lack seein such thangs next door to thar church.


so thay wuz a lil histry thar, but i hadnt never met the preechur, witch he turnt out to be bout my age with a red baby face n probly no need to shave n hair that looked wet but woodnt stay in place n kep fallin into his eyes. i went out n ast could i hep him with innythang, n he offert his hand n sed, 'john hobbes.' i tuck it n sed 'buddy don duncan.' then he pointed to the porch of the lil house n tole me his dog had cum over n dint seem to wonta leeve that thar porch. i hadnt never seen the dog neethur, but i sed we could git him.


but befor we did, we gut to talkin. i wuz reddy to talk bout relijun to mos innybidy that wood sit still fer it, n here wuz a man who had relijun fer his main bizness, so we had plenty ground to cover. he tole me how he had gut the call n went kickin n screamin into the minstry n how ever since, god had been guidin his feet. n i ast dint god guide em befor? n he sed mayhap god tride, but john hobbes wuz stiff necked, witch i had read that in the bible n never unnerstood it till then.


n we also talked bout the lil graveyard they had em cross the street frum that church, n i tole how odd twuz that thar wuz a grave thar with my sister maisies name on it n that famous sayin, 'dear friens, as ye walk by, as ye are now, so once wuz i, as i am now, soon ye shall be, prepar fer death n follow me.' n he allowed twuz odd.


but whut makes me member that one time i ever saw or spoke to john hobbes wuz sum of the questchuns he ast. furst he ast witch of the two bruthers wuz marrd. i tole him twernt neethur of us but he sed he unnerstood one of us wuz, so i splained how i wuz divorced n that seemed to settle thang fer him. but the more he talked, the more whut i wuz plannin on sayin to susannah run thru my mind n i couldnt hep but thank how much lack a marrg whut we had wuz. n wurse, i couldnt hep but wunder how it had happened that the dog belonging to a quote man of god unquote wood wander up onto our land n park hisself on mjs porch, witch that hadnt never happened in our two years on the farm, n then the preechur wood follow his dog n cummence a discusshun bout marrg with me.


we probly coulda talked all nite bout god n revelayshun n tuther worl, but he suddenly cocked his hed to listn, n we could hear a woman hollerin in the distunts. turnt out to be his wife. he sed he had to go n he started walkin off. his dog cum along without bein called nor nuthin. he gut to the rode bout the time i gut to our door. i wuz fixin to go in when he called out, 'sorry to be so abrupt. yesterdy wuz our anniversry.'


thatn hit me hard on a counta how twuz the anniversry fer susannah n me too. wuz it a message frum god? seemed purty damn near, ifn such thangs wuz happenin. corse, i still had to face susannah that verr evenin, n i couldnt hep but wunder. n i realized that she wuz probly jes as disenchanted with thangs as i wuz. i figgered i wood tell her eggzackly how i felt, that i dint wonta marr n dint wonta have no children fer a long while n that i wuz fixin to quit carbide whuther she lacked it or not, witch that wuz a issue on a counta how wood i pay my part ifn i wernt wurkin? i figgered that talk wood lead to us brakin up. i couldnt be as much of a callus basturd as i planned, couldnt be ruthless nor cold nor jes rashunull.


so we talked n dint brake up. on a counta we had to do sumthin. on a counta i wonted to make myself a better person, sumbidy more wurthy of knowin the truth. but mosly on a counta our naybor the preechur cumin by rite then to talk bout life n god n marrg n everthang.

Monday, October 13, 2003

life of buddy don, chaptur 67:
tuther worl


that trip to new york wuz the furst time i noticed how i dint fit in with folks as good as i reckoned. twuz a lil wurser thanks to them classes i wuz a'takin in the sprang quarter of 1977, witch they wuz concepts of women, animull liberayshun n german.


to start with the obveeus, german, witch i wuz thanking fer sum reason wood be a lil easier to larn than spanish on a counta so many of the wurds looked lack ye could tell whut they mint frum the gitgo. but twuz a powerful hard thang to larn on a counta they used cases whar in english we use wurd placement fer the most part. n that wuz a hard thang to pick up on. thang wuz, by time i wuz in that class, i wuz six or seven years older than most innybidy else in class, incloodin the teechur, witch her name wuz regina bishop n she speckted us to call her by her furst name regina on a counta she dint have her docters degree yet. thay wuz times in that class whar it seemed lack only regina n me had inny noshun of whut we wuz a'studyin or why n it hepped that i wuz so serious on a counta i needed all the hep i could git in that class.


animull liberayshun wuz anuthern that made me wunder did i cum frum a differnt planet than other folks. seem lack everbidy takin the class wuz a'doin it to show the perfersser jes how stupid the idee of liberatin animulls really wuz. corse lots of em cum frum farms n the lack, n thay had dun been in the habit of lookin at animulls as thangs on a counta ifn ye make yer pig a pet, yer gone have trubles when tiz time to slaughter it.


but the points the perfesser wuz a'makin had to do with the concept of whuther it made sense to treat animulls thataway n whuther the worl wood be a better place ifn we treated em lack they had rites of thar own. so lots of time wuz spent in that class splainin how thar wood ackshly be more food fer folks ifn we dint eat meat on a counta how it takes moren 16 lbs of grain to make 1 lb of meat. n thang wuz, ye mite speck at lease one other vegetariyun to show up fer that class, but i wuz thonly one.


n wurst of all, i wuz thonly man in the hole concepts of women class n that seemed to annoy the teechur, witch she wuz a woman name of docter arnott only we wuz spozed to call her miz arnott. turnt out nun of them women in that class wuz too good a playin the grades game n that wuz whar i gut on miz arnotts bad side. one of the main wayz to win at the grade game is to git reddy for class befor yer in it, witch ye got to read everthang n see kin ye unnerstan it, n ifn ye cant, be reddy to ast the questchun furst thang in class sos ye will unnerstan it n make the teecher thank yer the bes fer astin, even tho twuz sumthin ye couldnt ritely unnderstan.


ye gut to member how yer teechur has got to git thru the class period, so whutever ye do to hep that along is a'gone hep ye to win at the grade game. miz arnott wuz one of them teechurs that lacks to ast the questchun, witch that means she wood talk fer a short spell n then ast sum questchun. i had dun larnt long befor then that ifn ye have a teechur that asts the questchun, ye kin hep keep the class movin along by knowin sum of the ansers n razin yer hand to give em.


ye mite thank this kinda hep wooda been welcum, but twernt in the lease n the reason tuck me about half the quarter to figger. turnt out it wood make miz arnott mad that thonly person takin the class all that serious wuz thonly man in it. talk about bein on the inside n feelin lack a outsider! she made me feel lack that the hole quarter long, n i half to say, i sweated that grade moren mos inny i had gut till then. fer the paper we had to rite, i spun up a tale bout socrates n a female slave i made up n give the name of superfluous fer a joke, witch the tale wuz a dialog bout how even a woman could figger out thangs bout equality n such n seems lack it made miz arnott laff. lease thats whut she tole me whenever she callt me aside at the end of the quarter to splain why she had been quote lookin past my hand unquote whenever twuz razed to anser the questchun. it had gut so i dint raze it, but ifn nobidy had the anser, she wood call on me innyway.


i gut strate a marks agin that quarter, but twuz the hardest one yet. i wuz speshly pleased bout the german, witch it tuck more wurk than inny corse i had yet tuck. i wuz glad to take the summer off, n i hoped to spend more time on the farm n git to whar i felt lack i belonged thar.


but twernt to be. the mane thang wuz how everbidy had thar problems with quote the suzie bitch unquote. twuz one of the shames bout the church of the callus basturds, witch ever man on the place had to tell whut he dint lack bout tutherns gurlfriens n seem lack mos of the bad blood wuz spillt bout susannah. seem lack the bigget cumplaint wuz how she wonted all my free time n how i wonted to give it to her. n thay wuz cumplaints ifn i lef ranger with em n cumplaints ifn me or suze tuck him over to her place to stay. n the biggest cumplaint of all wuz how suze wood say, 'bu - u - ddy' in a way that mint she dint agree with whutever i wuz sayin we ought do or remindin me of sumthin i had dun promissd her.


thay wuz times when virgil or brew wood spend thar time trine to cunvints me to brake up with her. n thang wuz, i mite have dun it ceptin fer the way they wuz a pushin fer it, witch that made me wonta keep on with her all that much more. n it made me wonta sleep over at her place much as i could. n that made em mad.


but twernt yer logickull mad n heres why. suze wuz a'lookin to buy land n git her arkateck friend to design n build her a house on it. we spent jes about ever weekend a'lookin fer land till we finely found a lot or two out in claxton. she gut everbidy upset with her on a counta how she talked the seller into sellin two lots fer less than double the price of one, witch wuz grate, only then she tride to sell one of the two lots to her bes friend fer near the price of both of em. n that gut everbidy to talkin bout how greedy she wuz, witch they wuz willin to do the same kinda thang on a dope deal, but not on land.


but whut made thangs near intolerbull wuz how i ast suze did she wonta move in with me while her place wuz a'bein built. once mj heard bout that, she called fer a council meetin n tole everbidy i couldnt jes move folks in n out lack i had dun alreddy dun with lesalle n randy fox. n brew jumped in n sed he dint thank he oughta half to share his house with suzie on a counta he needed his privacy. i wonted to ast bout how twuz that he had gretchen thar, but i wuz sick of the hole fuss n fite by then.


turnt out suze dint lack bein out on the farm much moren they wonted her thar n even tho nobidy wuz sayin how they felt bout her rite in frunt of her face, she could tell thay wuz animossity a'goin on. n thang wuz, we had such a grate garden that year n spent hours n hours n hours wurkin together on gittin thangs canned: beans n tomaters n tomater sauce n spaghetti sauce with no meat in it n apples n apple butter n blackberry jam n more than i care to member.


n whenever we wuz a'doin sumthin lack that, seemed lack everbidy wuz happy till we wuz smokin the after dinner number n suze gut to whar she sed, 'bu-u-ddy' n that mint twuz time to go to bed, dint matter whuther twuz in mine or hern, witch eethur choice wood git folks a lil riled on a counta ifn twuz my bed it mint everbidy had to git quite or go home frum the big house, n ifn twuz her bed, then we had to leeve while the party wuz still a'goin. n they blamed her fer this, but twuz me that wonted to git to bed early.


during this time, i wood go by to see eli mos ever evenin. he wuz livin in canton hall by then n wuz still only gittin 30% disabilty. he had tuck to ritin pomes n i wood go by n ifn i wuz lucky, he wood read me a few, but he wuz rite shy bout em. they wuz good pomes n i could see he wuz the real deal whenever it cum to ritin. twuz livin he couldnt handle. n we wood git to talkin bout thangs, n with eli, that mint talkin bout the fack that everbidy is a'gone die n then whut? n he wuz sayin they wuz all asleep, witch he labeled them quote sleep sheep unquote. he sed twuz his return fer the favor they had dun him by labelin him schizophrenic.


n that gut us to talkin bout tuther worl. n thang wuz, even ifn nobidy wonted to admit they bleeved in it, everbidy had a idee bout it. we figgered the mos common thangs folks bleeved wuz the followin: (1) folks go tuther worl whenever they die, (2) thays angels n demons in tuther world accordin to the bible, (3) thays no reason why murkles wood only happen in the bible n that mint they wuz still a'happenin n (4) murkles is jes sumthin that happens whenever thars a openin twixt the two worls.


twuz along about this time that we read that book by kierkegaard name of fear n trembling, speshly the discusshun bout abraham sacrificin issac on a counta ifn sumbidy wuz to try the same thang in our day n age, abe wood be locked up n isaac wood be farmed out to foster parnts. ours wuz a age that dint bleeve in murkles lessn they cum frum science.


but eli dint take it thataway. he sed murkles wuz still a'happenin, n one thang that kep the sleep sheep asleep wuz how they couldnt tell when a murkle happened. ifn they could, they wood wake up. n eli sed i wuz his spirtchul twin n thonly differnts twixt the two of us wuz how he wuz crazy n i wuz undiagnosed. n i tuck that as a complimint n part splainayshun bout why i felt lack i wuz a outsider but it dint git me off the topick.


n heres how i speckulated bout it. fer one thang, to live life day after day, ye gut to let thangs settle into whut ye kin perdict n all, n purty soon, yer not noticin much of innythang. everthang gits to be covered up in everdayness. ye git to whar ye dun seen mos everthang a hunnert times befor. purty soon, nuthin much eggcites folks lessn it steps out frum the false everdayness of thangs almos to whar it seems lack tiz 3 dimenshunull when everthang else is 2 dimenshunull. even tho everbidy claims theys rashunull n scientifick n all, fack is, theys verr superstishus. thang is, we git mos eggcited by thangs we cant splain with science.


corse, to the outside worl we pertend that thangs is rashunull n scientifick n that makes folks thank we aint crazy, but in our mos private momints, when it cums time to cunsidder whuts really importunt, seems lack reason sits down n superstishun stands rite up. we wont sumthin more, eethur gods, dying gods, ghosts, witches, magick, stars, moon, tarot, divinayshun, alchemy, yew name it. we git fed up with keerful scientifick splainayshuns of thangs n we cum to realize that we cant git to the secrets of the universe till we face them parts of our ownself whar thangs cant be splained. n at that time, i could look at the worl we had created with reason n science n it dint seem so good, speshly since the main thang we dun with our reason n scientific knowledge wuz to cum up with moren more horrbull ways of killin each other.


ifn ye take this to the eggstream, then ye mite start claimin ye bleeve thangs science cant proov. n ye should git reddy fer the mental helth clink ifn ye let folks know that ye bleev in tuther worl or thank ye kin communicate with folks in tuther worl n so on. lessn yer a'doin it in church on sundy, ye ought not try it atall on a counta folks is gonna thank yer crazed. n thang is, eli wuz usin that verry method in trine to git up to 100%, witch he finely dun it that summer by gittin put into the vee a (veterans administrayshun) hospital in nashvull, brakin out, gittin put back in, n finely cumin out after near two munths with his 100%, witch twuz the lass time he ever wurked at shoneys.


n how did he git em to lock him up? he ast his hed shranker did she bleeve in the bible n whenever she sed she did, he ast bout the demons n angels n did she bleeve them parts as well. n she gut to splainin the o'fishull scientific mumbo-jumbo on thatn bout schizophrenia n all, but eli sed twernt so n he could proov it, only she woodnt take nun of his proofs since thar wuz always other ways of splainin thangs, witch thats whut science is really all bout. but he insisted that thay wuz still angels n demons n he could hear em talkin n they sumtimes wuz nuthin but a tormint but sumtimes they wuz inspirin. he offerd to show his shrank sum of his poetry, but she dint thank it could have inny place in his therpy.


he gut whut he needed out of it, but i wuznt satisfide in the lease. i could see whar i wuz wurried bout how i couldnt bleeve neethur end of the line that runs twixt scientifick reason n mysticull dogma. i ast myself overn over agin whut wuz real, n i couldnt find the anser on eethur side. science dint seem to have no sole nor hart neethur on a counta ifn it did, how could it be cumin up with thangs lack newtron bombs n bigger highways n a rearranging of the elements of the worl into piles of sludge or in landfills. on tuther hand, i couldnt bleeve whut i wuz readin frum folks that claimed to have been in tuther worl, folks lack edgar cayce, bishop pike, jane roberts, aleister crowley n all em otherns.


thang is, i knew thay had to be more to life than meets the eye or even the quote i unquote. science seemed lack a monster n mistysism seemed to make monster outta folks n both seem importunt to folks, but witch is rite? n part of the reason i am ritin bout this is how i speck ye must wonder ifn i fall fer everthang that cums along. am i a crackpot? jes a nuther drug user? i had dun been fooled by test tubes n weejee bords n tarot cards n proofs n dreams n thang is, i figgered i wuz livin in bof worls, witch my mind wood be the rashnull part that wonted to live in this worl with nuthin more magickull bout it than material laws that kin be discovered n manipulated n all, but my hart would be the one that wonted to live in tuther worl whar thay wuznt nuthin material atall.


n since everbidys gut to die, the questchun seemed lack twuz the mos importunt of em all, even tho mos folks lacked sleepin better, witch ye kin see the attrackshun of elis idee bout them sleep sheep. n fack is, it seemed lack all the folks i knew mite as well have dun give up on tuther worl: (1) even eli ignored everthang but his own intuishun n thar wuz times when he n i knew he wuz claimin to hear a voice tell him to do sumthin that he wuz alreddy a'wontin to do innyway; (2) virg seemed lack he wuz afraid he mite find sumthin that dint agree with how he dun cunclooded the worl oughta be; (3) mj bleeved she had dun found it and that innybidy that disagreed with her wuznt nuthin but assholes, witch thonly problem with that wuz how she couldnt splain whut it is she had found; (4) brew thunk twuz all a game: 'let's put on sum musick n git hi!'; (5) suze kindly lacked to discuss idees that dint come close: she could bleeve innythang with her mind but nuthin with her life ceptin whutever mite hep her git richer than she alreddy wuz; (6) darlene wuz a scientist n she had dun claimed back in the weejee days that the questchun wus moot n therefor uninnerestin; (7) daddy claimed he had dun figgered out that thay wuznt nuthin but quote whut meets the eye unquote; (8) randy fox claimed the anser could be found thru senshul playshure n colleckshun of material items; (9) my sister roena may wuz pregnunt n that sed bout everthang ye kin bleeve, witch ima gone splain lots more bout roena may direckly; n (10) corse thay wuz mama, who bleeved in makin up her face n dressin the part of a sofistickated woman, her anser bein whut she called elegants. n i could go on, but yer gittin the point.


durin this time i met a guy who made me wonta change how i wuz livin. his name wuz bill or bob or sumthin n he wuz the boyfrien of the woman suze tride to sell the land to. he played gittar n cum over one time to jam with me. we smoked a joint n played fer a few hours n then gut to talkin. he sed he had quote put down the surch unquote on a counta he sed focusin on it wuz keepin him frum findin innythang he mite be surchin fer. n we gut to talkin bout books n all, n i could see he wuz much more serious n advantsed bout his surch than i ever wuz. it seemed lack he wuz trine to make hisself sumthin wurthy of knowin the truth. n i hadnt never seen it thataway n wonted to change.


he splained bout gautama buddha n other such folk n it hit me hard n i felt shamed that i had tuck the easy way out ever time. that i wuz lookin fer a push button anser. n i could see that he wuz rite, that ye couldnt git the truth into a unwurthy vessel, n i could feel jes how unwurthy i wuz. i hadnt even read no thomas mann, fer instunts, n he wuz splainin how ye couldnt unnerstan the 20th centry without readin the magic mountain. n thats jes the tip of the iceberg of all he tole me n how small i felt afterds.


i gut to feelin jes that much more lack a fake n a outsider wharever i went. i gut a idee how far thangs had gone twords the end of that concepts of women class. i wuz quite sprized when one of tuther students ast me out on a date, witch i wuz fixin to tell her bout suze n how i couldnt when she sed she wuz hopin we could trip together n mayhap git past the material worl to find the truth quote beyond the veil unquote. she wuz a purty thang n she had her own acid n i knew i dint wonta make a life with suze. so why woodnt i wonta take her up on her offer? i tole her twuz on a counta i wuz alreddy in a relayshunship n she tuck it fine. but thang wuz, it seemed crazy to thank ye could git the truth bout tuther worl by gittin so hi ye could barely thank.