wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 90:
a marrg made in looseburg

i dint have much to do in the summer of 1979 cep wait till me n emily could git marrd n go to west germany, but that wuz hard a nuff. twood a been easier ifn ida been wurkin, but ye dun been told how that went rong. we deecided we wood spend a good part of the waitin times apart, her in looseburg, me in oak ridge, bofus with our famblys, witch that meant she stayed with her her mama maureen mos of the time, but she wood drive to clumbya n stay with pete smith, witch that wuz her dad in case ye dun fergot.

but the grate thang bout time is how twill pass even ifn it runs slow when thar aint much that needs doin, n pass it did till emily could cum fer a visit n to git me to go back with her fer the ackshul event. she wuz cumin in on a fridy fer the weekend n after that, we wuz goin back together fer the marrg.

one of the last thangs i dun befor she gut back wuz spend sum time with randy fox doin whut we had dun a hunnert times befor, witch that wuz to drive roun listnin to musick n lookin fer a bag of theevil weed. corse we wuz talkin over everthang thar wuz in our past n all. i hadnt seen much of him frum the time he had gut marrd to jenny skinner, witch that marrg lasted near two year, but she lef him fer a woman that wurked in a bar in midtown, so randy gut im a deevorce frum her. now he had lots of time.

turnt out he wuz rite sweet on maisie, only by then she had been livin with oscar clowder fer a lil over a year. on that particlar day, a windsdy as i recall it, he wuz verr happy on a counta how maisie had cum to talk to him bout maybe movin out on oscar. he wuz shore he wuz a'gonna git her now.

whenever he wuz talkin bout her, he sed sumthin that i shoulda paid more tenchun to, but ye kin magine how i wuz purty wrapped up in my ownself. but i member it now, witch he sed ifn maisie wuz to go back to oscar he mite have to kill im. i ast him why, but he woodnt say nuthin ceptin he had his reasons. they wuznt never friens to speak of in the furst place n randy lacked to talk bout whut he wuz a'gone do with one of his guns, witch he had a reglar colleckshun of em guns. he even claimed he had im a uzi. so i missed sumthin thar that i wished i hadda caught.

but as he kep sayin, twuz my time, not hisn, n he wonted to git us sum of theevil weed to celebrate with. we had to drive all the way to newport, but he gut a cuple bags almos by acksident on a counta how the price wuz much better, witch it turnt out brew needed a bag, so randy made a lil profit n made brew happy at the same time.

brew wuz about to take lil vacayshun with liza beale, witch she had moved out to the farm by then n that led to brew n me havin mayhap our wurst ever fuss n fite on a counta he had tole me back whenever i wonted to move susannah in with me how thay wuznt no way she could till they had started construckshun on her house n i gut the fuss n fite goin by astin did liza have a house under construckshun? but twuz a foolish fite fer me to pick on a counta i wuznt never gonna live thar no more, witch i dint know that then. sides that, i had dun rented my room to maisie, so i dint have no real cumplaint.

innywho, emily cum on fridy n randy had a lil party fer us at his new apartmint n me n maisie n gretchen n mj drove over n gut thangs goin. a lil later we wuz sprized when maisie had to leave all a sudden sos she could git back to oscars befor he gut home at 11. ye could jes see how mad it made randy fer her to go, but turnt out thay wuznt no way she wuz gonna cunsidder gittin serious bout no randy fox even ifn she did lack how he had lots of good drugs lack percodan.

emily n i spent the nite at randys n then drove to mamas on saturdy. i spent the day gittin the las bits of crap notes reddy to take to the typist, witch ye couldnt do nuthin in this worl that wood impress emily moren that. fer the nex cuple days we run a bunch of errands to git reddy fer the marrg n trip to west germany: (1) gut my blood tested, (2) gut my glasses, (3) gut the title fer the beetle n swapped it over to eli n (4) closed my account at the bank of knoxvull. corse mama had to give emily a bunch of cloze, moren she could ever use. fack is, she never did wear em. that wuz whar we gut the mexican weddin dress, witch ima gone splain that by n by.

then we borrowed daddys care n drove back to looseburg, whar they had a nuther party fer us with pete, as everbidy includin emily called her daddy, n milton n his fambly n the res of the looseburg gang. twuznt inny differnt frum ever other fridy nite thar. lots of cigarretes wuz smoked n everbidy drunk hard till midnite n then we drove pete n milton home, witch jackelin n savannah had dun lef earlier n pete wuz jes too far gone to drive innywhar.

nex day we hepped makin lil horse duvers, as maureen lacked to call em, witch they wuznt nuthin but lil balls of biskit n sausage or celry with creem cheese or olives in a bowl, that kinda thang.

ritin bout them sausage balls reminds me bout how i give up bein a vegetarian whenever we wuz gittin reddy to go to west germany. fer one thang, emily dint have no innerest in eatin no vegetables that she dint have to n she lacked pork chops at lease once a week not to menchun fried chicken n hamburgers n stake now n agin. i tride makin differnt meals with one fer her n a nuther fer me, but twuznt easy to do n sides that, i figgerd since a lot of german cultchur is expressd by the german vershun of sausage, witch they call it a voorst only tiz spelled 'wurst,' then n it made sense to eat sum n git as much of differnt kinds of cultchur frum the eggsperiencts possibull.

that evenin we had the rehearsal dinner, witch thay wuz a slew of folk thar: mama, daddy, brew, pete, maureen, nanny, emilys grandmother n bout eight or ten ants n uncles, randy fox, virgil, mj, jill, donovan, milton, jackelin, savannah, the preechur n his wife (dont member thar names!), emilys cuzin jan n a frien of hers name of patty who wuz maid of honor, witch twuz thonly time i ever seen her, n corse the marrg lady n her husbin, witch thar name wuz aiken.

furst we had the rehearsal, witch thatn went jes fine, but the dinner wuz a nuther thang. twuz held at a place name of cross restrunt, witch twuz the bestn fer miles aroun only twuz meant fer drankers, witch that mint we sat thar drankin n waitin fer our food fer nigh onto two hours. emilys grandmother wuz a diebetick, so she had to have sumthin, n pete n milton bofem gut to bein a lil sloppy drunk n nanny wuz a teetotler n dint lack seein folks git drunk n the preechur had dun give sermuns on the evils of likker n sister had hurt her back so sittin wuz painful.

purty soon thay wuz lil fuss n fites all roun the table till emily couldnt take it no more n broke out crine n run outside. i follerd n ast whut wuz rong n turnt out she wuz blamin everthang on her ownself, speshly the way her daddy wuz acktin. corse maureen follerd me n then here cum pete. sumhow maureen knew jes whut to say to git everbidy more or less happy agin n by then, the food had cum. but emily never fergot how pete embarrsd her at her rehearsal dinner n twuznt till he gut sober that she wood speak to im much.

after the dinner, milton insisted on gittin randy n virgil n brew n me to cum over to his place sos we could drank the nite away. i dint much wonta doot on a counta i wuz dun tired, but we went n even tho we wuz beggin fer the evenin to be over, milton woodnt here of it till near 5 am looseburg time, witch that wood be 6 am in knoxvull. brew had been beggin the hardes to go, so he wuz happy twuz finely over. virgil wuz too drunk to do much ceptn let randy pore him into the back seat. i wuz the closest one to bein sober, so i drove n dropped virgil off at maureens n randy n brew at the rutledge inn, whar they wuz a'stayin.

milton wonted to talk to me sum more so he direckted me to drive out to the graveyard. we found his mamas grave on a counta how he wonted to innerduce me. so thar we wuz, reverntly talkin bout mamas n luv n respeck fer yer fourbears n whut really matters in life n all. by then the burds wuz awake n chirpin lack crazy. twuz gittin gray in sted of black n i wuz bone tired. i felt honored bout how milton wonted to take me thar n tell me bout his high regard fer his mama so i figgerd twuz sumthin wurth doin. jes as thangs wuz gittin to whar he wuz feelin sentimental, he sed, 'goddam!' then he wuz kindly snufflin, or so i thought, so i turnt away to let him be in peace. nex thang i know, hes takin a piss rite thar on his mamas grave. then he tole her bout how he luved her n with that, i wuz finely free to go to the motel.

twernt but three hours after that that milton wuz knockin on the door to git me up. i hadnt hardly slept nun nohow on a counta how i wuz so eggcited bout gittin marrd n goin to west germany. i tuck my shower n gut myself all gussied up in the best of them three piece soots my mama dun bought me n nex thang ye knew, thars virgil n me in the back room of that church with the preechur, waitin fer thangs to cummence. n woodnt ye know it, right then we gut to talkin bout whuther pi is a priori n all n then twuz time to go. as we wuz walkin out, i ast him wuz marrg a priori n he bust out laffin n could hardly hold it fer the hole weddin.

but twernt so fer me. we gut up in the frunt of that thar presbyteryan church a'standin lack we wuz soljers at attenchun while we wuz a'waitin fer the ushers, witch they wuz brew n randy n milton, to git dun settin everbidy down. i wuz verr sprized to see how weird walter had cum on a counta i hadnt even tole him i wuz gittin marrd, but turnt out he lived in clumbya n his mama knew pete n he figgerd he mite as well cum. i wuz jes wunderin how he had gut thar when the organ cummenced playin that weddin march. at that the door opened to let in the brite sunshine n fer a mint ye couldnt see nuthin but a silluwet of emily n pete in the brite lite. then the door closed n yew could see em.

twuz a momint i wont never forgit. emily wuz dressd in a white weddin gown with a veil over her eyes n her hair wuz french braided n she had a lil dab of makeup on. i hadnt never seen her in no dress befor nor with no makeup nor with no braided hair n i hardly knew she wuz so beeyootiful thataway. seemed lack her she wuz a angel n thar wuz tears in my eyes n a lump of luv in my throat till i dint know could i say innythang, even 'i do,' but i musta sed sumtihin on a counta befor ye could say jimmy crack corn, twuz over n i wuz kneelin in frunt of her n pullin off that lil lace garter n pitchin it to randy, witch he had ast me to do that on a counta how he wonted to git marrd to maisie n he figgerd he could use all the hep he could git.

thays this blur of a memry in my mind of that afternoon n the party we had n the peeple we saw n the pitchers that wuz made n the likker that wuz drunk n mos of all how much in luv with emily i wuz. i had been thru a lot, witch ye know ifn ye been readin up to here, but i hadnt never been in luv lack that befor.

nex day we went to nashvull to have our honeymoon, witch we dint do much but see a movie n eat out n then go to the gran ole opry the day after n then over to clumbya so pete could give me a bag of theevil weed. twuz quite a welcum sprize as ye probly magine.

ye mite could have noticed how eli dint cum to the weddin. he gut all upset bout it n went to tell docter koch bout how he felt lack killin hisself. they put im in the vee a hospital thar in nashvull, so i went to see im. i half to add mitt i felt awful guilty bout it fer sum reason.

i brung him a copy of the furst half of either/or by soren kierkegaard.  but even when he wuz verr happy to git that book, that feelin of guilt didnt leeve me. i reckon tiz on a counta i know i wuz partly to blame fer him gittin sick this time. but whut kin ye do? ye gut to live n ifn yer alive, ye mite wonta do well fer yerself n all. it aint that i dun all that grate, but i reckon he wished he coulda finished skool n gut marrd n tuck a trip sumwhars. ye could easy magine how he mite could be jellus of all the tenchun i wuz a'gittin. tiz a hard fack, but ifn ye gut a bruther lack eli, doin innythang good mite hurt im sum kinda way.

that furst visit only lasted maybe fifteen mints, but i went back nex day n we had a better visit. her red me sum thangs frum kierkegaard n sed he wuz happy whar he wuz on a counta he wuz gittin a chance to settle sum thangs up in his mind. we finely had us a hug n sum honest wurds, witch i tole him strate out i luved him, n twuz the furst time i had ever dun that. corse, he had sed it minny a time, but he always sed he wuz crazy so he could say such thangs. i sed i wonted to be crazy lack that n he laffed n sed i dint know whut i wuz sayin n he wuz rite bout that.

me n emily gut marrd on the 21st of july. i wuz in west germany on the 1st of august. that give us jes a nuff time to visit with everbidy, frum nanny in looseburg to her grandmother in the cuntry to eli in the hospital to my fambly in oak ridge to the perfessers in utk. i had to git the res of crap notes to my collidge skolars committee, witch twuz the las thang i dun fer my undergraduwait degree. the nite befor my flite, we stayed downstairs in my old bedroom at mamas n made luv all nite. nex day we went shoppin n gut emily a winter coat n good pair of boots. then we gut our wunderlich money n cunverted it to travelers checks in doytch marks n packed my bags. i tuck a hole trunk full of cloze, witch that wuz a miss take.

emily dropped me off at the ariport in time fer me to git a six o'clock flite, witch it tuck six hours to get thar, but when ye landed twuz 8 am west german time. the idee wuz fer me to git us a place to live n all. she wood be cumin a week later.

twuz the beginnin of a hole new add ventchur, n i dont mean the trip to west germany: twuz the start of the marrg made in looseburg.