Sure enough, when three o’clock rolled around, so did several high school kids. In deference to Mud Galvin’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy, he and Abel got provisionally high before they got there, and the kids apparently did the same. Abel was glad Victoria was back. She had been Mud’s significant other for at …
Tag: kids
The Way I Do, Part Five
A stranger asked me if I knew the Devil / I told him, well, in fact, he looks like you / He told me he was no more than a lawyer / Who merely wanted someone else to sue / Or screw. Mud Galvin called at eleven, and Abel tried in vain to sound …
The Way I Do, Part One
When I was young / I went off to college / But I flunked out ‘cause I could not pass no test / My old man barely made it past fifty / And I reckon that I’ll follow his footsteps / But it ain’t gon’ be bad health that’s gonna kill me / It won’t …
Named to Lose
Luck evens out for most people. Sometimes, though, one bad break begets another, and it all goes into a death spiral. Such was the case of the Scheltonns of Roebuck, Oklahoma. Names were not Frank Scheltonn’s forte. It took a lot of thinking, but one could make a case that the decline and fall …
What I Ain’t Got
I don’t know where I am / And I don’t know where I’m going / I reckon it don’t matter anyway / What factories are left here are mainly hiring Mexicans / I reckon that they’ll work without much pay. Years ago, it had been the site of a filling station. Then it was …
What I Ain’t Got, Part Five (Final)
I’m too old now to make it / So I spend all my time / Telling kids not to make mistakes I made / If I’d known what I know now / And conjured up a plan / I’d be made in a different kind of shade. On the way back home, Sam …
What I Ain’t Got, Part 4
I don’t give a damn / ‘Cause it don’t make no difference / What happens is gonna happen anyway / I’m a ship without a rudder / Adrift with no sails / And the water’s still choppy on the bay / So I’ll paddle around / Either drown or run aground / So far …
What I Ain’t Got, Part Three
My friends all moved away / And they moved to big cities / Where they fight all that traffic every day / While I sit here and rot / In this godforsaken town / That gets older and sadder every day. At the produce stand, not all was drudgery. Sam Maitlin encountered …
Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part Two
Scuppernongs and muscadines / Bubble gum three for a dime / Orange Crush over ice / Sawmill gravy over rice / That’s the way / My world / Used to be. When Alan Reuss was a kid, a scuppernong vine stood at the edge of the front yard, just a few feet from the …
The Plagiarist of Winfield Shoals, Part Two
Every kid loses his innocence. Every kid experiences life’s complications and loses something in the translation. Eddy Dunnaway wasn’t an exception. As he tumbled into the tumult of adolescence, Eddy’s admiration of his grandfather gave way to amusement. Sometimes Papa Jack’s eccentricities were tough calls. Eddy was handy with a couple Magic Markers and some …
Continue reading The Plagiarist of Winfield Shoals, Part Two
Nightrider's Lament 